Urgent Notice on Carrying Out a Special Action to Correct the Illegal Production and Sale of Masks and Other Protective Supplies

Promulgation Date: 2020-2-7
Title: Urgent Notice on Carrying Out a Special Action to Correct the Illegal Production and Sale of Masks and Other Protective Supplies by the State Administration for Market Regulation and 7 other Departments.
Document Number:国市监稽﹝2020﹞29号
Expiration date: 
Promulgating Entities: 国家市场监督管理总局 公安部 生态环境部等
Source of text: http://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/zfjcj/202002/t20200213_311554.html

To the bureau for market regulation (department, commission), internet information office, public security department (bureau), department for ecology and the environment (bureau), department of commerce, health commission, medical product administration, and directly-subordinate customs organs of each province, autonomous region, and directly governed munipality as well as for the Xinjiang Construction and Production Corps:

Since the occurrence of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, Wuhan and other regions have felt the epidemic's impact, and the markets have seen a shortage of protective supplies such as masks; a few counterfeit and shoddy goods have taken this opportunity to enter the market, leading to strong public dissatisfaction; a batch of example cases have been investigated in each region and department. So as to further effectively combat and correct illegal and criminal acts, to forcefully ensure epidemic protection and control and contain the spread of the epidemic, and to truly protect the people's health and safety, it is decided that from today through the end of the epidemic, the eight departments will jointly carry out a special action to combat and correct the illegal sale of masks and other protective supplies. Notice on the relevant matters is given as follows.

I. Work Goals

Focus on both the online and the offline to target all kinds of enterprises and entities in production and sales to strictly investigate the illegal production and sale, and the illegal recycling and resale of masks and other protective supplies, and establishing effective mechanisms for safety guarantees through joint crackdown and corrections.

II. Focuses of Work

(1) The departments for market supervision and for medical instruments oversight, in conjunction with other relevant departments, are to focus on combating six types of illegal conduct, namely: acts of hoarding, price hiking, price collusion, and price fraud; acts of production or sale without obtaining permits or making filings; acts of producing or selling goods that do not meet safety standards or are expired; acts of passing off ordinary or industrial use other non-medical use masks as medical masks, or otherwise passing off fakes as genuine of inferior goods as quality; acts of producing or selling products without production dates, factory names and addresses, quality certifications, as well as falsely using certification symbols and other indicators of quality; acts of trademark infringement, patent infringement, confusing knockoffs, false promotions or advertising. At the same time, the departments for market regulation should increase the frequency and extent of spot quality checks, increase the force of investigations of unlawful conduct in online exchanges of protective goods on internet platforms, Wechat, Weibo, broadcasts, and so forth; and increase the force of investigations into online trading platforms and internet service providers failing to perform their obligatoins as provided. Suspected crimes that are discovered are to be promptly transferred to the public security organs.

(2) The public security organs are to focus on masks, which the public is most concerned about and urgently needs, and concurrently keep their eyes on all epidemic protective supplies, lawfully cracking down on the criminal production or sale of fake or shoddy goods, price hiking in violation of laws and rules, profiteering, and other crimes of illegal business operations, and crimes of fraud committed online, by phone or otherwise, in the name of selling masks and other protective supplies.

(3)In accordance with their duties, the departments for health, the ecology and environment, and market regulation shall lawfully strengthen regulation on the safe use of medical protection products, and severely crackdown on illegal conduct in the collection, transport, storage and disposal of medical waste.

(4) Customs departments are to lawfully strengthen the regulation of ports of entry in accordance with their duties, strictly investigate and punish the violations of laws and regulations in the importation of masks and other protective goods that do not meet the safety requirements, strengthen the inspection and quarantine of related products, and prevent illegal entry.

(5) The commerce departments are to urge commercial logistics enterprises to implement entity responsibility for import sales, increase the extent of screening, strictly control import channels, strictly control the inspection points for goods, strictly implement the purchase and sale accounting system, and promptly transfer any leads on counterfeit and shoddy masks and other protective goods to the relevant local regulatory law enforcement departments.

(6) Internet information offices are to follow relevant departments' judgments and opinions to promptly address information that violates laws and regulations and close down websites and accounts that violate laws and regulations.

III. Work Requirements

(1) Coordinate and cooperate to form a joint mechanism. All regions and departments should fully recognize the significance of carrying out the special action on masks and other protective goods for epidemic prevention and control, establish a provincial-level multi-departmental joint coordination mechanism, give play to the role of connection mechanisms between the administrative and criminal, refine measures, clarify the division of labor, and exert joint efforts to ensure the smooth development of the action. Responsibility is to be implemented at every level, and accountability mechanisms are to be established to hold strictly accountable any regulatory departments and personnel that do not earnestly perform their duties, do not perform their duties, or derelict their duties.

(2) Clear channels and establish designated lines for reports. All local departments should give full play to the role of social oversight, announce hotlines for complaints and reports and publish them on hotlines, online platforms, official WeChat accounts, and other platforms, to widely solicit leads, keep the pressure on, play a deterrent role, and ensure that the special action is effective.

(3) Widely publicize, and strengthen guidance of public opinion. The relevant departments at the provincial level should carry out extensive publicity, guide the direction of public opinion, eliminate false information, expose example cases, and deter those who violate laws and regulations that that harm the vital interests of the people, to create a positive public opinion atmosphere/

Each local department is to do a good job of efforts on organization and coordination, appointing designated contact persons and promptly reporting information to the levels above. Beginning on the date that this Notice is received, the departments for market regulation (including medical product administrations) are to make daily reports daily reports before noon on the previous day's efforts and statistics for the jurisdictional region.

State Administration of Market Regulation; State Internet Information Office; Ministry of Public Security

Ministry for Ecology and the Environment; Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission

General Administration of Customs; National Medical Products Administration

February 7, 2020