The State Administration for Market Regulation of China has provided compliance guidance on price competition order to the photovoltaic (PV) industry, requiring the entire industry to strictly prohibit price fraud, commercial bribery, and other improper conduct.
According to the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, on Friday (December 26), the authority carried out compliance guidance for price competition order in the PV industry in Hefei, Anhui Province.
The Administration reported on price-related legal violations and risks in the PV industry, pointing out that the current industry is experiencing cutthroat competition through low-quality competition and repetitive homogenous construction — so-called “involutional” competition behavior. This has led to widespread profitability difficulties for companies, distorted market resource allocation, and suppressed companies’ willingness to invest in technological innovation and product upgrades, resulting in a “bad money drives out good” effect.
The Administration emphasized that the entire industry must fully recognize the importance of addressing “involutional” competition in the PV sector. PV companies must carry out production and operations according to laws and regulations, and strictly prohibit price collusion, price fraud, and other improper price-related behaviors; firmly eliminate false advertising, commercial bribery, and other forms of unfair competition.
The Administration also proposed that power generation enterprises should earnestly assume their responsibilities, insist on high quality and fair pricing in PV project tenders, and strengthen requirements for product quality. Industry associations should earnestly fulfill their self-disciplinary functions, guiding companies to achieve win-win progress through innovation upgrades, quality optimization, and service improvements, jointly promoting the creation of a healthy, orderly, and sustainable industry ecosystem.
The State Administration for Market Regulation will step up product quality supervision, reinforce law enforcement against price-related and unfair competition violations, strictly investigate and deal with illegal activities, truly uphold fair competition in the market, and promote the regulated, healthy, and sustainable development of the PV industry.
This September 25, the Administration held a special press conference on key work regarding industrial product quality and safety supervision for this year. Wang Shengli, Director of the Quality Supervision Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said at the meeting that in order to curb irrational competition in some industries and prevent potential risks of low-price and low-quality products, the authority carried out, for the first time, a national special inspection on the quality of PV modules, new energy vehicles, and other products.
At the 2025 PV Industry Annual Conference last Thursday (18th), Yang Xudong, Director of the Department of Electronic Information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, said that the governance of the PV industry will enter a critical phase in 2026. Further efforts are needed to strengthen the regulation of production capacity, reinforce management of PV manufacturing projects, and promote the orderly exit of backward production capacity using market-oriented and legal means, so as to accelerate the realization of dynamic balance in production capacity.
Yang Xudong stated that the Department of Electronic Information under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant departments, will focus on a number of tasks, including improving the price monitoring mechanism, paying close attention to enterprises with abnormal prices, intensifying product quality supervision and inspections, and increasing monitoring and tracking responses for enterprises found with issues such as substandard quality, inflated power ratings, or infringement of intellectual property rights.