New Guiding Opinions on Online Auctions Released in China
TapTechNews May 23rd news, on May 22nd, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration jointly issued the 'Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Standardized and Healthy Development of Online Auctions' (TapTechNews note: hereinafter referred to as the 'Guiding Opinions'), clearly stating that the consistency of the auction supervision system should be adhered to. Online auctions should comply with auction laws and regulations, and the operators of online auction platforms need to fulfill the main responsibilities such as auction license and verification of cultural relics auction qualifications.
The person in charge of the relevant department of the State Administration for Market Regulation introduced that:
In recent years, China's online auctions have flourished. As of 2023, the annual transaction scale of various online auction activities has exceeded one trillion yuan, becoming an important way of non-standard asset trading. It has obvious effects in revitalizing stock assets, improving the efficiency of factor allocation, and perfecting the modern circulation system, and has a positive impact on stable growth, promoting consumption, and expanding employment.
However, since the 'Auction Law of the People's Republic of China', the 'Measures for the Administration of Auctions', the 'Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Auctions', and the 'Measures for the Administration of Cultural Relics Auctions' were formulated earlier and did not make clear provisions for online auctions. Some problems such as unqualified main bodies, irregular business operations, imperfect supervision systems, and a to-be-strengthened integrity system have become increasingly prominent.
In order to solve the above problems and further improve the online auction supervision system and regulate the order of the online auction market to promote the high-quality development of the auction industry, the State Administration for Market Regulation, in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce and the National Cultural Heritage Administration, based on laws and regulations such as the 'Civil Code of the People's Republic of China', the 'Auction Law of the People's Republic of China', the 'E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China', the 'Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics', the 'Measures for the Administration of Auctions', and the 'Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Auctions', adhered to the problem-oriented approach and studied and formulated the 'Guiding Opinions' starting from the actual situation of the development of online auctions.
The introduction of the 'Guiding Opinions' has three important significances.
First, the 'Guiding Opinions' is the first regulatory document in the field of online auctions, filling the institutional gap in the management of online auctions. For the first time, it clearly adheres to the consistency of the online and offline auction supervision systems, requiring that engaging in operational online auctions should comply with the current auction laws and regulations.
Second, the 'Guiding Opinions' clearly defined the main responsibilities of the operators of online auction platforms for the first time, including: fully implementing the requirements of platform responsibilities stipulated in laws and regulations such as the 'E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China' and the 'Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions', fulfilling the verification and registration obligations of the information of online auction operators on the platform, and clearly defining the responsibilities for the legal disposal and reporting of illegal auction information.
Third, according to the requirements of promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and supporting the development of modern service industries, the 'Guiding Opinions' put forward specif ic opinions on encouraging the innovative development of online auctions for the first time. Its introduction is conducive to promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the online auction industry.
In recent years, new forms of online auctions have continuously emerged, and how to effectively supervise these new forms of online auctions has attracted much attention. New forms and new business models such as'simultaneous auction on-site and online', 'live auction', and 'online bidding' have continuously emerged. Illegal behaviors such as 'operating with license but without certificate', 'operating without license and without certificate', false propaganda, malicious collusion, fictitious transactions, passing off fakes as genuine, cultural relics auction items not being reviewed, and auctioning cultural relics that are prohibited from being traded by the state occur from time to time. How to effectively supervise the above phenomena is extremely urgent. In this regard, the 'Guiding Opinions' put forward three requirements.
First, strengthen the access management of the online auction market. Engaging in operational online auction activities should obtain the corporate legal person status in accordance with the 'Company Law of the People's Republic of China' and obtain the 'Auction Operation Approval Certificate' issued by the commerce department in accordance with the 'Auction Law of the People's Republic of China', except as otherwise provided by laws and regulations such as online judicial auctions.
Second, strengthen the supervision and law enforcement of online auction activities. By increasing law enforcement efforts, strengthening social supervision, and increasing the disclosure and publicity of license information, key measures are taken to regulate illegal behaviors that disrupt the market order in online auction activities.
Third, strengthen the cooperation in the supervision of online auctions. Promote the establishment of a working mechanism for situation notification, information sharing, and law enforcement linkage among the competent departments of the auction industry, the market supervision department, and the cultural relics administrative department.
In accordance with the requirements of platform responsibilities stipulated in laws and regulations such as the 'E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China' and the 'Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions', combined with relevant laws and regulations such as the 'Auction Law of the People's Republic of China' and the 'Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics', the 'Guiding Opinions' made a series of provisions on compacting the responsibilities of the operators of online auction platforms, mainly including:
First, verifying and registering the information such as the identity, auction license, and cultural relics auction license of online auction operators on the platform;
Second, legally disposing and reporting illegal auction information in the platform;
Third, for the auction categories of franchised operations such as cultural relics, the operators of online auction platforms should improve their professional review capabilities and internal control system construction, and strengthen the dynamic inspection and timely disposal of illegal and违规 transactions;
Fourth, provide conditions for online auction operators on the platform to fulfill their information publicity obligations in accordance with the law, and urge online auction operators to publicize relevant information on business licenses;
Fifth, the online auction business carried out by the operator of the online auctio n platform as the auctioneer should be marked as 'auction self-operation' to ensure that the relevant parties of the auction can clearly identify.