On 31 August, the State Administration for Market Regulation, SAMR, issued draft amendments to the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China for public comment. The amendments are aimed at strengthening e-commerce laws. The deadline for comment was 14 October 2021.
The proposed amendments relate to only two Articles, 43 and 84, and deal with the following four issues:
The time within which an IP owner must take action after a seller has filed a successful counter-notification has been extended from 15 days to 20 days.
The second issue relates to the possible losses that may be suffered by the platform operator and adds a mitigation provision: if the business operator using the platform provides a guarantee to compensate it for any loss caused by potential intellectual property infringement, the e-commerce platform operator may temporarily suspend the measures it has taken.
The following provision has been added: if a business operator using the platform falsely declares that it has not infringed, causing the rights-holder's losses to increase, the liability for compensation is to be doubled.
In Article 84, the legal liability for an e-commerce platform operator's failure to take necessary measures in relation to IP infringement has been increased: "if the circumstances are particularly serious, it may be prevented from carrying out relevant e-commerce business activities until its operating license is revoked."
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