China is overhauling its pricing law after nearly three decades, a critical revision aimed at curbing cutthroat price wars, algorithm discrimination and other unfair market practices in the world's second-largest economy.

The draft amendment to the pricing law has been jointly drawn up by the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic regulator, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, the nation's top market regulator.

The move marks the first revision since the law was enacted in 1998 and placed on the legislative agenda of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress in 2003. The current draft amendment was released for public comment late in July.

The 27-year-old law's rewrite comes as China confronts a phenomenon increasingly lamented by economists and business executives alike — cutthroat competition, where firms spiral into destructive internal competition, often slashing prices below cost to gain market share.

Guo Liyan, deputy director of the Economic Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said: "The amendment sends a clear signal that maintaining fair market competition is nonnegotiable.