The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR; 国家市场监督管理总局) is a Chinese ministerial-level agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for market supervision and management. SAMR was established in 2018. It is China's primary antitrust regulator.
As of at least 2024, the SAMR provincial agencies for Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai have been particularly active in antitrust enforcement.[1]: 30
SAMR's antitrust enforcement approach has been more stringent than pre-SAMR enforcement, and has remained more stringent as of at least early 2024.[1]: 111
In 2018, SAMR began a probe into Pinduoduo following the company being criticized extensively in domestic media for its selling of shanzhai and counterfeit products.[1]: 34
In November 2020, SAMR issued antitrust guidelines which addressed platform economy company issues.[1]: 111 These guidelines came into effect in February 2021.[1]: 111 Among other provisions, the guidelines state that variable interest entity structures will no longer be exempt from merger review and that SAMR may investigate acquisitions of emerging platforms even when the parties turnover does not meet notification thresholds.[1]: 111
In March 2021, Xi Jinping stated that China would strengthen anti-trust enforcement to ensure healthy healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy.[1]: 100 In November 2021, SAMR's antitrust bureau was upgraded to vice ministerial status following the appointment of Gan Lin as the bureau's new chief.[1]: 100
Shen Changyu (March 2018 -, concurrently Director of the State Intellectual Property Office and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group)
Liu Junchen (March 2018-November 2018)
Li Li (March 2018 -, concurrently Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the State Drug Administration)
Yang Yizheng (March 2020-Leader of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the State Administration for Market Regulation)