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Spotlight on News
1. NHSA interviewed mental health medical institutions to take action against unlawful acts, including fabrication and forging documents.
On February 4, 2026, the General Office of the National Healthcare Security Administration issued the Notice on Conducting Collective Interviews with Designated Medical Institutions for Mental Illnesses (hereinafter referred to as "the Notice"). The Notice aims to strengthen supervision over such institutions and crack down on illegal and irregular use of medical insurance funds.
The Notice requires provincial medical security authorities to organize collective interviews with the principals of all designated mental health institutions in their jurisdictions, publicize medical insurance laws, regulations and supervision policies, and conduct warning education based on media exposures and unannounced inspections. Institutions are required to conduct comprehensive self-inspection and rectification, focusing on illegal acts such as induced hospitalization, false hospitalization, fabricated conditions and treatments, forged documents, and irregular charges, so as to press the responsibilities of institutions and their principals. In addition, the National Healthcare Security Administration will carry out special unannounced inspections on such institutions, impose heavier penalties on violators and those failing to conduct proper self-inspection in accordance with laws and regulations, and refer serious cases to public security organs.
In recent years, with the rapid growth of demand for mental health services and the continuous improvement of medical security for mental health, the use of medical insurance funds by mental health institutions has expanded significantly. However, supervision practices have found that some institutions take advantage of the high subjectivity of mental illness diagnosis, long treatment cycles and complex efficacy evaluation to fraudulently obtain medical insurance funds by fabricating symptoms, extending hospital stays and inflating treatment items, which seriously undermines the fairness and sustainability of the medical insurance system. The issuance of the Notice targets the above regulatory difficulties with precise regulation, further strengthens the primary responsibility of medical institutions, and helps protect patients' rights to medical treatment.
2. Seven departments jointly provided administrative guidance on platform-based and courier companies, aiming to protect workers in new employment forms.
According to a report by People's Daily on February 9, 2026, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, together with the Ministry of Social Work of the CPC Central Committee, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Transport, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the State Post Bureau and the AllChina Federation of Trade Unions, recently conducted employment-related administrative guidance on several leading platform and express delivery enterprises to protect the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment.
The targets of this administrative guidance include, but are not limited to Meituan, Taobao Flash Sale, SF IntraCity Delivery, Freshippo, Didi, Lalamove, YTO Express and other companies, covering 16 leading enterprises in sectors such as food delivery, on-demand retail, online car-hailing, freight platforms and express logistics.
The meeting required relevant enterprises to: 1) Fully assume the primary responsibility for employment, and clarify their obligations to protect workers' basic rights and interests including remuneration, rest and leave, and workplace safety. 2) Continuously improve labor management and internal rules, optimize employment methods, and especially listen to the opinions of trade unions or workers on algorithm rules and performance appraisal, so as to effectively safeguard the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment.
This administrative guidance represents the latest measure in a series of government actions to regulate the platform economy and protect workers in new forms of employment. It marks a shift of regulatory focus from general policy formulation to supervision and inspection of implementation by specific enterprises, aiming to encourage leading enterprises to set examples and promote overall improvement of the employment environment across the industry.
3. Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation published 10 typical cases of anti-unfair competition, involving false advertising, commercial bribery and infringement of trade secrets.
On February 5, 2026, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation released 10 typical cases of unfair competition to urge market entities to abide by laws and foster a fair competition environment. These cases involve illegal acts including commercial confusion, fake transactions and false publicity, commercial bribery, and infringement of trade secrets.
Among the typical cases, false promotion accounts for the largest proportion, covering many livelihood-related sectors such as online games, real estate, food and healthcare. For example, a real estate development company illegally added unplanned courtyards, water features and other facilities in the show flats for false promotion; a biotechnology company fabricated therapeutic effects such as "tumor prevention" for its products and conducted misleading promotion targeting elderly consumers; an information technology company developed and provided software tools to inflate live broadcast popularity, likes, comments and sales volumes, assisting multiple merchants in false promotion. The above illegal acts are characterized by diverse means, strong concealment and wide-ranging harm, and have all been severely investigated and punished by the regulatory authorities According to statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, market supervision departments in Shanghai investigated and dealt with more than 690 cases throughout the year. They vigorously enforced the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law, carrying out special law enforcement actions in key areas including online transactions, medical and healthcare, e-commerce, and trade secret protection, and guided business entities to operate in compliance with laws and regulations. These typical cases are representative and warning examples from law enforcement practice, which demonstrate the firm stance of market supervision authorities in severely cracking down on all types of unfair competition acts, also drawing clear behavioral boundaries for business entities
Legislation Updates
1. SAMR released Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for online platforms, emphasizing compliance responsibilities of platform operators
On February 13, 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Guidelines for Anti-Monopoly Compliance on Internet Platforms (hereinafter referred to as "the Guidelines"). The Guidelines put forward general requirements for anti-monopoly compliance management of internet platforms, requiring platform operators to assume primary responsibility for anti-monopoly compliance, and prohibiting them from committing monopolistic acts banned by the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China by leveraging data, algorithms, technology, capital advantages, and platform rules
Based on the characteristics, business models and competition rules of the platform economy, the Guidelines define three regulated subjects: internet platforms, platform operators, and merchants on platforms. The Guidelines also identify new types of monopolistic risks in eight scenarios, including algorithmic collusion between platforms; organizing or assisting merchants on platforms to reach monopoly agreements; unfair high pricing by platforms; sales below cost by platforms; blocking or shielding services; "choose one between two" practices; "lowest price across the entire network" requirements and discriminatory treatment by platforms. The Guidelines focus on four categories of monopolistic risks: monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant market position, concentrations of undertakings, and abuse of administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition, drawing clear legal red lines for platform operators.
The issuance of the Guidelines translates core provisions of anti-monopoly laws and regulations into identifiable behavioral boundaries, providing effective guidance for platform operators to strengthen anti-monopoly compliance management. It should be noted that the Guidelines provide general guidance for anti-monopoly compliance and are not mandatory. Platform operators and relevant industry associations may refer to the Guidelines to establish and improve anti-monopoly compliance systems and optimize compliance mechanisms based on their own conditions.
2. Eight authorities issued a document to prevent and address risks of virtual currencies and RWA tokenization
On February 6, 2026, the People's Bank of China, together with seven other departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, issued the Notice on Further Preventing and Addressing Risks Related to Virtual Currency and Real World Asset Tokenization (hereinafter referred to as "the Notice"), to further prevent and address risks associated with virtual currency and the tokenization of real-world assets.
The Notice clarifies that virtual currencies do not hold the same legal status as fiat currency, and domestic virtual currency exchange activities are illegal financial activities that are strictly prohibited and will be banned accordingly. Without approval, domestic and foreign entities are prohibited from issuing stable coins pegged to the renminbi overseas, and foreign entities are prohibited from illegally providing related services to domestic entities. Meanwhile, the Notice defines the tokenization of Real World Assets (RWA), including real estate, stocks, bonds, gold, artworks, and intellectual property, as "activities that convert asset rights into tokens using encryption technology for issuance and trading". Related domestic activities, as well as unauthorized intermediary or IT services, are prohibited. Financial institutions and internet companies are barred from providing support such as accounts, clearing and settlement, custody, marketing, or traffic redirection for such businesses. Strict supervision will be imposed on domestic entities issuing virtual currencies overseas or conducting overseas RWA tokenization based on domestic assets
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