电商法 (diànshāngfǎ): E-commerce Law

After being submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislator, for a third review, the draft of e-commerce law has been released on the Ministry of Commerce on its website to solicit public opinions from June 29 to July 28.

The new e-commerce regulation aims to further support and promote the development of e-commerce, regulate the online market order and protect the legal rights and interests of all parties involved in e-commerce.

E-commerce has developed rapidly in China in recent years thanks to the rapid development of information and internet technologies. China is now the world's largest e-commerce market. Online retail sales in China were worth 7.18 trillion yuan ($1.12 trillion) in 2017, a 32.2 percent increase year-on-year.

The legal framework for China's e-commerce industry should be conducive to the industry's international cooperation and competition. Therefore, the new regulation should focus on eliminating the existing institutional obstacles and actively promote innovative institutional arrangements in the e-commerce sector. In addition, it should promote the coexistence and sharing among industries, enterprises and the consumers.

Today, the development of e-commerce in China has become one of the backbones of global e-commerce and even the development of the digital economy. Regardless of the scale of industrial output value or the innovation of model application, China's e-commerce industry has continuously achieved leading advantages on a global scale. In the process of building the e-commerce rule of law in our country, it is advisable to systematically review the existing governance norms and adhere to the overall orientation that is beneficial to China's e-commerce industry to better integrate into international cooperation and exchange and competition.