China's top market regulator unveiled a draft guideline on Sunday to tighten oversight over how e-commerce and online platforms charge merchants, as officials ramp up efforts to promote fairer competition and reduce the operational burden on smaller vendors, which form the backbone of the platform economy.

The State Administration for Market Regulation released a 28-article draft guideline that seeks to standardize the way platforms collect commissions, membership fees, technical service charges, information fees and marketing expenses from merchants.

The proposed document, opened for public feedback on Sunday, said that platforms must adhere to the principles of fairness, legality and good faith when setting fees, and pricing should reflect service agreements, business norms and the operating conditions of merchants.

The regulator encourages platforms to adopt flexible and mutually beneficial pricing models and to offer discounts or fee waivers — especially to small and medium-sized merchants — as part of their corporate social responsibility commitments.

For instance, the draft guideline called on platforms to clearly publicize their fee standards, honor any fee reduction promises, and respect merchants' rights to know and choose services.

Wang Xianlin, a member of the expert advisory group of the State Council's anti-monopoly commission, said, "The guideline is expected to bring greater transparency and structure to the way online trading platforms charge merchants through systematic rulemaking, and will rebalance interests and rebuild a healthy platform ecosystem."

Wang said that the guideline comes at a time when online platforms have become a key engine of economic growth as some problems such as high commission rates and opaque fee structures are arising.

"By regulating fee practices and strengthening platforms' sense of social responsibility, China's platform economy is poised to shift from a phase of rapid scale expansion to one focused on quality and sustainable growth — ultimately creating a win-win environment for merchants, platforms, and consumers alike," he added.

The guideline also bans eight types of unfair practices, including duplicate charging, charging without delivering services and passing on costs that should be borne by the platform itself.

The SAMR also said platforms should proactively respond to merchant concerns, cooperate with inspections and promote industry self-regulation to maintain fair market competition.

Platforms would also be required to set up dedicated compliance teams and internal mechanisms to identify and prevent unreasonable charges. This includes preemptive risk assessments and internal audits of fee structures, the regulator added.

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn