China's economic planning agency unveiled regulations to prevent price collusion and monopolistic pricing practices, giving the government more tools to rein in inflation pressures.

The rules, which were announced Tuesday and take effect Feb. 1, come after Beijing said that ensuring price stability will be a priority, and that it was bringing competition and pricing practices closer to international standards following its adoption of a basic antimonopoly law in 2008.

"In some industries and areas, acts against competition law are increasing daily, and methods to restrict competition are being constantly updated. Various forms of price collusion and the abuse of monopoly position are seriously harming the legal rights and interests of consumers," the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement.

The Anti-Monopoly Law implemented in 2008 contains general provisions against many of the measures covered in the new regulations, including price-fixing agreements between competitors and abusive pricing by companies with large market share. But Chinese laws are often taken as general guides, with further regulations sometimes needed to detail enforcement procedures.

In its statement Tuesday, the NDRC said the new regulations, by clarifying the rules, would help law-enforcement officials and also help companies to abide by the law. The NDRC said the new regulations "go an extra step in defining the boundary between legal and illegal, clarifying the criteria to abide by for major actors engaging in price competition."

Under the new rules, competitors will be banned from reaching agreements to fix prices, while business partners will be barred from agreeing to minimum resale prices, the NDRC said.

Companies that have a so-called dominant market share will be barred from charging "unfairly high prices" for their goods, and from paying "unfairly low prices" for inputs. Various anticompetitive pricing strategies adopted by companies with a dominant market share will also be prohibited, including pricing goods below their production cost, using special rebates to force out competitors and discriminatory pricing between similar customers.

A company is considered to be dominant if its market share is 50% or greater, while two companies are considered to be "dominant" if their joint market share reaches two-thirds, according to the regulations.

Government officials will be prohibited from using their administrative rights to restrict price competition, such as by charging discriminatory fees for goods from other areas, the NDRC said.

Consumer prices in China rose 5.1% from a year earlier in November, according to official data, the fastest rise in more than two years. In response, Beijing has sought to ensure adequate supply of food and other staple items, and the central bank raised interest rates twice in the fourth quarter of 2010 to combat inflation.

A draft of the new rules was issued in August 2009, with regulators seeking public comment on the proposals.

The antimonopoly law adopted in 2008 has served mainly as a mechanism to block or attach conditions to large mergers. Proposed takeovers involving companies with annual turnover of 10 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) globally and four billion yuan in China can be completed only after receiving approval from the Ministry of Commerce.

The enforcement of the law has drawn fire from critics for an alleged bias against foreign mergers. The only deal to be rejected outright under the law has been Coca-Cola Co.'s $2.4 billion bid for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. in 2009.

Last week, Nokia Siemens Networks said its acquisition of most of Motorola Inc.'s network equipment business has been delayed as the companies await approval from the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce.

The deal had been expected to be closed by the end of 2010, but has been delayed to the first quarter of 2011, pending Chinese regulatory approval, Nokia Siemens Networks said.