Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 10-In December 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation initiated an investigation into Alibaba Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Alibaba Group) in the online retail platform service market in China for abuse of its dominant market position in accordance with the anti-monopoly law.
The State Administration of Market Supervision established a task force to conduct on-site inspections of Alibaba Group based on the solid preliminary work, investigate and inquire relevant personnel, consult and copy relevant documents and materials, and obtain a large amount of evidence materials; extensively carry out other competitive platforms and merchants on the platform Investigate and collect evidence; conduct in-depth verification and big data analysis of the evidence materials of the case; organize experts to repeatedly conduct in-depth case analysis and demonstration; listen to the statements of Alibaba Group many times to protect their legal rights.
The facts of the case are clear, the evidence is solid, the qualitative is accurate, the handling is appropriate, the procedures are complete, and the procedures are legal.
After investigation, Alibaba Group has a dominant position in the domestic online retail platform service market in China.
Since 2015, Alibaba Group has abused its dominant position in the market and has imposed “choose one out of two” requirements on merchants on the platform, prohibiting merchants on the platform from opening stores or participating in promotional activities on other competitive platforms, and using market forces, platform rules and data , Algorithms and other technical means, adopt a variety of reward and punishment measures to ensure the implementation of the "two-choice one" requirement, maintain and strengthen its own market power, and gain unfair competitive advantages.
The investigation shows that Alibaba Group’s “choice of two” behaviors have eliminated and restricted competition in the online retail platform service market in China, hindered the free circulation of commodity services and resource elements, affected the innovation and development of the platform economy, and infringed on the business of the merchants on the platform. Legitimate rights and interests harm the interests of consumers, and constitute an abuse of market dominance that prohibits “without justified reasons, the counterparty of the transaction can only conduct transactions with them”, which is prohibited by Article 17, Paragraph 1 (4) of the Anti-Monopoly Law.
According to the provisions of Article 47 and Article 49 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, comprehensively considering the nature, extent and duration of Alibaba Group’s illegal activities and other factors, on April 10, 2021, the State Administration of Market Supervision made an administrative penalty decision in accordance with the law. Ordered Alibaba Group to stop illegal activities and imposed a fine of 4% of its domestic sales of 455.712 billion yuan in 2019, totaling 18.228 billion yuan. At the same time, in accordance with the principle of combining punishment and education in the Administrative Punishment Law, the “Administrative Guidance Letter” was issued to Alibaba Group, requiring it to strictly implement the main responsibility of platform enterprises, strengthen internal control and compliance management, maintain fair competition, and protect merchants on the platform. We have carried out comprehensive rectification in areas such as the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and submitted self-examination and compliance reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation for three consecutive years.