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China's top market regulator the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued new regulations on Thursday to ramp up scrutiny of intellectual property rights violations in a bid to promote innovations and free market competition.

Dubbed "Provisions Prohibiting Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Exclude and Restrict Competition," the regulation was a revision based on the previous edition issued in 2015.

The new regulations came as part of the government's intensified efforts to encourage innovation, and maintain the market order of fair competition, in an effort to establish a unified national market place and a stronger IPR framework, according to the official website of SAMR. 

The new regulation will take effect on August 1.

The new regulation includes three types of "monopolistic behaviors", namely monopoly agreements by means of exercising intellectual property rights, abusing market dominant position, and implementing concentration of business operators that may have the effect of eliminating or restricting normal market competition.

To enhance the guidance and operability of the rules, the definition of relevant market monopoly behaviors and the factors for the review of concentration of business operators will be constantly refined. Such improvement was based on the country's Anti-Monopoly Law approved in 2022.

The new regulation aims to strengthen regulation of typical and special monopolistic behaviors pertaining to intellectual property rights.

For example, it clearly outlines the regulation of monopolistic behavior in the process of standard formulation and implementation, by prohibiting business operators with market dominance from using standard essential patents to implement "patent hijacking".

The announcement of the new regulation comes two months after the SAMR launched a new inspection campaign cracking down on unfair competition in cyberspace to secure enterprises' core competitiveness.

The SAMR said in March 2023 that it would promote revision of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, following the amendment of the Anti-Monopoly Law last year, aiming to create a fair and impartial market environment.

Global Times