The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation fines a national power connection supplier for resale price maintenance (Bull)

On 27 September 2021, just a few days before the week-long National Day break, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued its decision against Bull, a supplier of power connection and extension products from Ningbo in East China. In its decision, SAMR fined Bull for resale price maintenance (RPM). In particular, the authority found Bull to have fixed the resale prices of its independent distributors, around 3,000 offline shops and a number of online stores on e-commerce platforms (such as Taobao or JD). Bull was also found to have enforced notionally recommended resale prices. The company had required distributors to sign commitment letters not to price below the fixed or recommended