Beijing Daily Client | Author Jiang Xiaojuan
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized that it is necessary to "build a high-level socialist market economic system ", and to "improve the basic market economic systems such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit, and optimize the business environment." In recent years, the development of digital enterprises, especially large platform enterprises, has brought many new problems and challenges to fair competition policies and anti-monopoly supervision. my country attaches great importance to fair competition in the digital age, and has carried out strong concentrated rectification actions in recent years, achieving significant results. However, there are still many long-term and deep-seated issues in this field that need to be studied and discussed. Regulators and those under supervision will face many confusions and difficulties, and the related fair competition issues will be a long-term public policy challenge.
From a regulatory perspective, the overall economic activities have been digitized, and important changes have occurred in the market structure and operating model. The density, depth and breadth of market transactions are unprecedented, the complexity of transaction patterns and transaction content is unprecedented, the rapid changes and adjustments of transaction rules and transaction relationships are unprecedented, and the government's identification and management of the compliance of corporate business behavior is very difficult. Regulators feel that "many but can't care about it", "fast but can't keep up", "deep but can't see through", and "new but can't understand it". How to turn to normalized appropriate and effective supervision after concentrated rectification of prominent problems is really a great challenge.
From the perspective of platform companies, some of the characteristics of huge platform scale, massive transactions, and complex investment structure are not intentionally guided by "monopoly" or other intentions that affect fair competition, but are characteristics brought about by massive linking capabilities under technical support. regulators sometimes have no clear guidance on whether competitive behavior is legitimate under this new technology and new business model. Therefore, the platform is sometimes confused about the boundaries of compliance and violations, and lacks expectations about the direction and intensity of regulatory behavior, which may lead to excessive conservatism and prudence in competitive and innovative behavior. Now the global digital technology and business model are still iteratively updated rapidly, with fierce international competition, and excessive conservatism and prudence will bring many problems and even lose competitiveness.
In addition to these issues directly related to fair competition, the platform is large enough to become a high-power influencer of social order and social values. It can directly or indirectly affect the social image and social reputation of oneself or other companies, thereby interfering with the fair competition environment. Therefore, to strengthen and improve fair competition policies in the digital age, it is necessary to conduct in-depth analysis and research on new situations and new issues, grasp the balance from the perspectives of industrial development and public interests, and all parties work together to form a joint force.
From the perspective of compliance construction and supervision, the characteristics of the digital platform determine that it is difficult for external regulators to actively supervise massive transactions on the platform or supervise according to reports. Therefore, it is an effective institutional arrangement to establish an compliance management system within the enterprise and effectively supervise the construction, operation and effectiveness of this compliance system by the government.
First of all, enterprises should strengthen the construction of digital-related compliance systems. Enterprise compliance does not generally require enterprises to "operate in accordance with the law", but requires enterprises to establish a self-regulatory mechanism aimed at preventing, identifying and responding to risks in response to possible violations. Corporate compliance is not a new problem. Foreigners have decades of experience and many years of domestic promotion and efforts. In recent years, compliance requirements have been strengthened. For example, the 14th Five-Year Plan clearly mentioned that enterprises should strengthen compliance management. However, the compliance construction of digital platforms is relatively lagging behind. This situation has conceptual reasons, high costs, unwilling to invest, conflicts of interest with commercial interests, lack of experience and talents, and lack of regulatory pressure. We hope that enterprises will realize that strengthening compliance management is an inevitable requirement for the sustainable development of enterprises, an inevitable trend for strengthening supervision in China, and an important symbol of corporate image and credit. We must study and advance early to build a compliance management system that adapts to the requirements of the digital era, has Chinese characteristics and complies with international practices. If an enterprise wants to survive and develop for a long time, it will take sooner or later, and the sooner it will become more proactive.Personal privacy and public data compliance management, consumer protection compliance management, algorithm design compliance management, intellectual property protection and compliance management are all essential contents.
Secondly, the government should strengthen supervision of enterprise compliance management. enterprise compliance construction requires resource investment from all aspects. Without external pressure, it is likely that there will be insufficient motivation. The lack of clear and unified regulatory standards will also produce adverse consequences of " bad money drives out good money ". Regulatory departments should strengthen the construction of compliance supervision capabilities and regard compliance supervision as an important normalized regulatory measure, including establishing compliance management standards, implementing compliance assessments, inspections and other dynamic regulatory measures, and promoting enterprises to strengthen compliance management through various means such as punishment, incentives and guidance. Among them, researching and formulating compliance standards and guidance documents, explicitly indicating the bottom line that must be reached and boundaries that cannot be crossed, and improving the predictability of corporate regulatory behavior is an important public product that urgently needs to be provided by the government. It is of great significance to boost corporate confidence and encourage companies to boldly innovate and develop under the premise of compliance.
Finally, strengthen regulatory cooperation. is the first of all the cooperation between the government and enterprises. The platform is the object of supervision and is also the governor of local markets. It formulates trading rules, provides trading algorithms, and regulates trading behaviors for a large number of entities on the platform. It not only supports the platform's own development, but also empowers regulatory departments. The second is to strengthen international cooperation. Large digital platforms have a high degree of internationalization. Platform supervision is a difficult problem in various countries, and there are also different explorations and experiences. Cross-border regulatory cooperation is necessary.
(The author is a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the president of Chinese Administrative Management Society )
