Article 1 – These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Administrative Penalty Law of the People’s Republic of China, the E-commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on Administrative Penalty Procedures for Market Supervision and Administration, the Measures for Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions, and the Standards for Judging Trademark Infringement, etc., in order to strengthen the protection of exclusive rights to registered trademarks, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and trademark owners, regulate the business activities of e-commerce platforms, and promote the development of the socialist market economy.

Article 2 – These Regulations apply to e-commerce platform operators assisting market supervision and administration departments [the Market Supervision Bureaux or “MSBs”] in investigating and handling trademark infringement cases; these Regulations shall be applied by analogy to infringement cases involving geographical indications, special marks, etc.

Article 3 – E-commerce platform operators shall formulate platform service agreements and intellectual property protection rules, clearly defining the liability for breach of contract that operators within the platform shall bear for providing false information such as identity, address, contact information, and administrative licenses to the platform.

Article 4 – When handling trademark infringement cases, if a market supervision and administration department at the county level or above legally requires an e-commerce platform operator to provide information such as the identity, address, and contact information of operators within the platform, goods or service information, payment records, logistics and express delivery information, return and exchange information, and after-sales transaction information, the e-commerce platform operator shall provide such information within 15 working days of receiving the notification. If an extension is required, the e-commerce platform operator shall notify the market supervision and administration department that requested the information before the deadline.

E-commerce platform operators shall receive and provide relevant information through the National Online Transaction Supervision Platform and ensure smooth and timely receipt of information.

When providing information such as the identity, address, and contact information of operators within the platform to the market supervision and administration department, the e-commerce platform operator shall verify the authenticity of the information. If necessary, the e-commerce platform operator may directly contact the operators within the platform and request information such as the location of the person in charge, the location of the personnel engaged in business activities, the location of the computer terminal equipment operating the online store, the goods storage location, and the goods shipment location. For operators within the platform who provide false information, the e-commerce platform operator shall take effective measures in accordance with the platform service agreement and intellectual property protection rules. During the information verification process, no enforcement-related information may be disclosed without the consent of the market supervision and administration department.

E-commerce platform operators are responsible for the authenticity of the information they provide. For information that cannot be confirmed or cannot be investigated, specific reasons must be given. If an e-commerce platform operator fails to provide information within the prescribed time limit or provides false information without justifiable reason, it shall be deemed as a failure to fulfill the statutory verification, registration, and information reporting obligations stipulated in Article 47 of the “Measures for Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions,” or a failure to fulfill the obligation to assist in investigations as stipulated in Article 53, and shall bear corresponding legal responsibility according to law.

When market supervision and administration departments require e-commerce platform operators to provide assistance in investigations, they shall comply with the relevant provisions of the “Interim Measures for Law Enforcement Assistance in Online Transactions.”

Article 5 –  When a market supervision and administration department receives a report from a rights holder or their authorized agency or individual alleging that an operator within the platform is suspected of trademark infringement, and believes that the evidence provided by the reporting party can preliminarily prove the existence of trademark infringement, it may issue a “Notification Letter of Suspected Trademark Infringement Leads” (Appendix 1) to the e-commerce platform operator and provide relevant evidence. With the reporting party’s consent or authorization, the reporting party’s contact information may be provided to the e-commerce platform operator.

Evidence preliminarily proving the existence of trademark infringement includes:

• Evidence indicating the ownership of the trademark rights, such as valid trademark registration certificates, trademark renewal certificates, trademark change certificates, trademark assignment certificates, trademark license certificates, trademark files bearing the special seal for trademark registration certification of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, etc., proving the ownership of the exclusive right to a registered trademark.

• If it is believed that the sale of goods by an operator within the platform is suspected of “using a trademark identical to its registered trademark on the same type of goods without the permission of the trademark registrant,” the following evidence should be provided: the link to the infringing goods, relevant notarized documents, reliable timestamps, blockchain evidence, etc., that can objectively document the purchase process, as well as written identification opinions issued by qualified entities.

• If it is believed that the sale of goods by an operator within the platform is suspected of “using a trademark similar to its registered trademark on the same type of goods without the trademark registrant’s permission, or using a trademark identical or similar to its registered trademark on similar goods, which is likely to cause confusion,” the reporting party should provide the link to the infringing goods and the specific reasons why it can be considered similar and confusing according to relevant regulations. Notarized sample purchase evidence may also be provided.

• If it is believed that the unauthorized use by an operator within the platform of the registrant’s trademark in commercial activities such as online store pages constitutes infringement, relevant documents, pictures, audio recordings, video recordings, links to online store pages, etc., should be provided as evidence. The rights holder must undertake to preserve electronic evidence in accordance with Chapter 5 of the “Interim Provisions on Electronic Data Evidence Collection for Market Supervision and Administration Administrative Law Enforcement.” If a reporting party makes a false undertaking, they will bear legal responsibility according to law.

E-commerce platform operators should provide written feedback to the market supervision and administrative department within five working days of receiving the “Notification Letter of Suspected Trademark Infringement Leads,” outlining the measures taken.

Article 6 – When a market supervision and administration department investigates and handles a trademark infringement case and finds that the address information of an operator within an e-commerce platform is inaccurate and cannot be contacted, it shall issue a “Notice of Assistance in Investigation Regarding Inaccurate Address Information of Operator within E-commerce Platform” (Appendix 2) to the e-commerce platform operator.

Upon receiving the “Notice of Assistance in Investigation Regarding Inaccurate Address Information of Operator within E-commerce Platform,” the e-commerce platform operator shall prominently display at the top of the relevant shop and product information page: “According to the market supervision and administration department’s investigation, the operator’s address information is inaccurate.” Simultaneously, it shall notify the relevant operator within the platform to provide accurate information and proactively contact the market supervision and administration department that issued the “Notice of Assistance in Investigation Regarding Inaccurate Address Information of Operator within an E-commerce Platform” to cooperate with the investigation.

Upon receiving the “Notice of Assistance in Investigation Regarding Inaccurate Address Information of Operator within an E-commerce Platform,” the e-commerce platform operator shall take the aforementioned measures within 48 hours and provide written feedback to the market supervision and administration department within five working days regarding the implementation of the aforementioned measures.

Article 7 – While fulfilling the obligations stipulated in Articles 5 and 6 of these Regulations, e-commerce platform operators shall, in accordance with the platform service agreement and intellectual property protection rules, take necessary measures to restrict operators within the online trading platform from voluntarily terminating their online trading activities in violation of Article 23 of the “Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions,” thus avoiding consequences such as the inability to recover illegal gains from trademark infringement, the inability to conduct case investigations, or the inability to enforce administrative penalties.

Article 8 – If the actual business location of an operator within the platform is not in the same region as the market supervision and administration department receiving the case lead, the market supervision and administration department receiving the case lead shall transfer the case to the market supervision and administration department at the same level at the actual business location. Upon receiving the case transfer, the market supervision and administration department at the actual business location shall promptly organize an investigation and handle it.

The actual business location of an operator within the platform includes: the location of the physical or online business premises, the operator’s permanent residence, the location of the computer terminal equipment operating the online store, the location of the goods warehouse, and the location from which the goods are shipped. If an operator within the platform has multiple cross-regional addresses for its actual business location, the case shall be transferred to the market supervision and administration department at the same level at the actual business location, based on the principle of facilitating investigation. In cases of jurisdictional disputes, the matter shall be resolved through consultation within seven working days from the date of the dispute. If consultations fail, the matter shall be reported to the common superior market supervision and administration department for designation of jurisdiction; alternatively, the common superior market supervision and administration department may directly determine jurisdiction.

If the case lead originates from a superior market supervision and administration department, the transferring unit shall report to the superior market supervision and administration department that assigned the lead at the same time as the transfer and inform the reporting party. If the receiving unit and the transferring unit are both subordinate market supervision and administration departments of the assigning unit, the receiving unit shall continue to investigate the case as required by the market supervision and administration department that assigned the lead; if the receiving unit and the market supervision and administration department that assigned the lead have no superior-subordinate relationship, the receiving unit shall investigate the case according to law and promptly inform the reporting party of the progress.

After the market supervision and administration department makes contact with the e-commerce platform operator suspected of trademark infringement and has initiated investigations into the case, it shall notify the e-commerce platform operator within two working days. Upon receiving notification, the e-commerce platform operator shall remove the information markings in Article 6, Paragraph 2 of these Regulations if the operator within the platform has truthfully provided identity, address, and contact information.

Article 9 – If an e-commerce platform operator fails to comply with the relevant provisions of Articles 4 to 7 of these Regulations without justifiable reason, and fails to rectify the situation after being notified by a provincial-level or higher market supervision and administration department, and if, according to investigation, the operator provides convenience to infringe upon exclusive rights to registered trademarks of third parties, or assists others in committing trademark infringement, the market supervision and administration department shall investigate and punish the [e-commerce platform] operator according to law.

Article 10 – The State Administration for Market Regulation is responsible for interpreting these Regulations.

Article 11 – These Regulations shall come into effect on the date of promulgation.