The Administration was created as part of the
deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions, and merged or abolished a number of previous agencies, such as the
State Intellectual Property Office. SAMR was created under the banner of the
Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission under
Xi Jinping, current
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2018, SAMR began a probe into
Pinduoduo following the company being criticized extensively in domestic media for its selling of
shanzhai and counterfeit products. In November 2020, SAMR issued antitrust guidelines which addressed
platform economy company issues. These guidelines came into effect in February 2021. Among other provisions, the guidelines state that
variable interest entity structures will no longer be exempt from merger review and that SAMR may investigate acquisitions of emerging platforms even when the parties turnover does not meet notification thresholds. In March 2021,
Xi Jinping stated that China would strengthen anti-trust enforcement to ensure healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy. In November 2021, SAMR's antitrust bureau was upgraded to vice ministerial status following the appointment of
Gan Lin as the bureau's new chief. == Function ==