E-commerce law to better protect the legal rights and interests of all parties in e-commerce

As is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2019, China’s new e-commerce law strengthens protection for consumers and puts more emphasis on the obligations and responsibilities held by platform operators in guaranteeing the quality of goods and fair dealings.

The law also bans such practices as faking positive reviews, deleting negative reviews, tie-in sales, putting off consignment unreasonably, and making it difficult for consumers to get deposit refunds for booking hotel rooms online or bike-sharing services.