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China — E-Commerce Law and the 2024 Consumer Rights Protection Law Implementing Regulations

NationalCNDerived or secondary source

People's Republic of China

Rule id
subscription.cn-ecommerce
Version
1.0.0
In force from
July 1, 2024
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
China

In plain language

What this regime says.

China's 2024 Implementing Regulations to the Consumer Rights Protection Law require a conspicuous reminder before an automatic renewal, and the E-Commerce Law bans pre-selected add-ons. The 12315 platform mediates individual complaints for free.

Who is covered

Consumers contracting with operators subject to Chinese e-commerce and consumer law.

What you get

A concrete regulatory breach to cite, and free mediation through 12315.

Where claims go wrong

  • Complaining in the platform's own app only. Use 12315 as well.
  • Assuming the seven-day return right covers a digital service. It is subject to exceptions.

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. 中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法实施条例 (Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests), State Council Decree No. 778Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, in force 1 July 2024automatic renewal: the operator must draw the consumer's attention to it conspicuously before and at the point of renewal
  2. 中华人民共和国电子商务法 (E-Commerce Law), Arts. 18 and 19E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of ChinaArt. 18 — a non-personalised option must be offered alongside targeted results; Art. 19 — tie-in goods or services must not be pre-selected by default
  3. 中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法 (Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests), Art. 25Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Intereststhe seven-day no-reason return right for goods bought online, with listed exceptions

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

The clocks it starts

  • General civil limitation period (varies — check locally)Limitation periods for consumer contract claims in the countries in this file range from about one year to ten and are not something we state per country. Two years is shown as a prompt to check, not as the law. A continuing course of charges usually restarts the clock, so a subscription still billing is rarely out of time.Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • Cancellation, effective from the date of your noticeSend a dated written cancellation naming the account, the subscription and the date you want it to end, and keep the proof. Say in terms that any further charge is unauthorised — that sentence is what turns the next debit into a payment dispute you can win without arguing about the subscription at all.automatic renewal: the operator must draw the consumer's attention to it conspicuously before and at the point of renewal
  • Revocation of the payment authority with your bankDo not rely on the merchant to stop billing. Tell the card issuer or bank to cancel the recurring authority and to block further authorisations from that merchant descriptor. This works even where the merchant is unresponsive and even where it is abroad.

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"You agreed to the terms, which set out the renewal"

high likelihood

The trader points at a terms page or a single acceptance checkbox at signup.

What answers it

Acceptance of general terms is not the same as informed consent to an automatic renewal, and in most of these jurisdictions the renewal term has to be presented clearly and close to the point of consent rather than behind a link. Ask the trader to produce the actual screen you were shown, with the date. If it produces today's checkout flow rather than the one in force when you signed up, say so.

中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法实施条例 (Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests), State Council Decree No. 778 — automatic renewal: the operator must draw the consumer's attention to it conspicuously before and at the point of renewal

"Cancellation has to be done by telephone"

high likelihood

The trader accepts online signups and insists on a phone call, a physical letter or an in-person visit to cancel.

What answers it

This jurisdiction regulates the exit as well as the entry. A trader that lets you subscribe in one click and requires a phone call to leave is not complying, and the mismatch between the two journeys is the whole of the complaint. Describe both journeys, in order, in your letter and in the regulator complaint.

中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法实施条例 (Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests), State Council Decree No. 778 — automatic renewal: the operator must draw the consumer's attention to it conspicuously before and at the point of renewal

"You have to give a notice period, so the next charge stands"

medium likelihood

The trader accepts the cancellation but insists on a further billing cycle under a notice clause buried in the terms.

What answers it

Ask for the clause, by number, and ask when and how it was brought to your attention. A notice period that was not clearly disclosed before you contracted is vulnerable as an unfair term in most of these jurisdictions, and a notice period longer than the billing cycle itself is vulnerable almost everywhere. Pay nothing pending the answer and revoke the payment authority.

"We are established abroad, so your consumer law does not apply"

medium likelihood

The trader is incorporated elsewhere and says the contract is governed by the law of its own seat.

What answers it

A choice-of-law clause in a consumer contract does not usually deprive a consumer of the protection of the mandatory rules of the country they live in, and a trader that directs its activities at consumers in a country generally answers to that country's consumer regulator. Say where you live, say that you contracted from there, and copy the regulator named in this result. Meanwhile the payment route works regardless of governing law.

Where to take it next

  1. Written cancellation and refund demand to the traderOne document: cancel, demand refund of anything taken after your first cancellation attempt, cite the instrument named in this result, and give a short deadline. Ask for written confirmation of the cancellation date — that document is what every later step needs.Claim directtypically 14 days
  2. Card dispute for the post-cancellation chargesRun this in parallel rather than afterwards. Scheme dispute windows are commonly 120 days from the charge, which is shorter than any consumer-protection route, and a reversal obtained here does not prejudice the rest of the claim.Claim directtypically 45 days
  3. The State Administration for Market Regulation (12315 platform)The 12315 platform, run by SAMR and its local market regulation bureaus, takes individual consumer complaints against traders and mediates them. It is free, it is used at very large scale, and Chinese platforms respond to it because complaint volumes feed into their regulatory standing. It will take your individual complaint, so file it as one: the merchant, the dates, the amounts, and what you want.Regulatortypically 45 daysofficial page

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

EU Consumer Rights Directive — withdrawal, order-button and inertia-selling rulesEUSupranational30 countriesDirective 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights Directive)Confidence: highNorway — Angrerettloven right of withdrawalNONationalNorwayLov om opplysningsplikt og angrerett (angrerettloven), LOV-2014-06-20-27Confidence: highRussia — Consumer Rights Protection Law arts. 26.1 and 32RUNationalRussiaЗакон РФ от 07.02.1992 № 2300-1 «О защите прав потребителей», ст. 32Confidence: mediumSwitzerland — Code of Obligations right of revocation (and the online gap)CHNationalSwitzerlandSwiss Code of Obligations, arts. 40a–40fConfidence: mediumTürkiye — Law 6502 distance contracts and the Subscription Contracts RegulationTRNationalTürkiyeTüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun No. 6502, arts. 48 and 52Confidence: mediumUK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (and the not-yet-commenced DMCCA subscription regime)GBNationalUnited KingdomConsumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/3134)Confidence: highCalifornia Automatic Renewal Law (Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17600-17606, as amended by AB 2863)US-CASub-nationalUnited StatesCalifornia Business and Professions Code §§ 17600-17606Confidence: highCanada — provincial consumer protection acts and the federal Competition ActCANationalCanadaLoi sur la protection du consommateur, RLRQ c. P-40.1 (Quebec)Confidence: medium

Other rights in the same countries

China — rental deposit (中华人民共和国民法典 (Civil Code of the PRC), Book Three, Chapter 14 (lease contracts), together with the municipal housing rental regulations of the city where the property is)CNNationalChina中华人民共和国民法典 (Civil Code of the PRC), Book Three, Chapter 14 (lease contracts), together with the municipal housing rental regulations of the city where the property isConfidence: lowChina — 航班正常管理规定 (Flight Normality Management Provisions, CCAR-271)CNNationalChina航班正常管理规定(交通运输部令2016年第56号),第十七条Confidence: mediumChina — payment services supervision and UnionPay card dispute rulesCNNationalChina非银行支付机构监督管理条例 (Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-bank Payment Institutions), State Council Decree No. 768Confidence: lowChina — Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)CNNationalChina中华人民共和国个人信息保护法 (Personal Information Protection Law), Arts. 44–50, 69Confidence: mediumPeople's Republic of China — China PostCNNationalChina中华人民共和国邮政法 (Postal Law of the People's Republic of China)Confidence: lowPeople's Republic of China — China Railway refund and change rules (铁路旅客运输规程)CNNationalChina铁路旅客运输规程 (Regulations on Railway Passenger Transport) and the Railway Law of the PRCConfidence: low

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.