4.18 On April 18, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released “SAMR Exposes Typical Cases of Illegal Advertisements of “Divine Doctors” and “Divine Medicines” in 2023″.
According to the news, in 2023, the market supervision department focused on key areas of people’s livelihood, such as medical treatment, drugs, medical devices, health food, etc., and continued to intensify the crackdown on false and illegal advertisements of “miraculous doctors” and “miraculous medicines,” investigating and dealing with 9,572 cases of related advertising violations, and confiscating 125 million yuan in fines. A total of 9,572 cases of related advertising violations were investigated and dealt with, and 125 million yuan was confiscated. In order to give full play to the role of warning and education, and to enhance the awareness of compliance of the main business entities, a number of “miracle doctors” and “miracle medicines” advertisements are selected as typical examples of violations of the law.
The first typical case of illegal advertisement was cross-border health care product, in which the advertisement of ordinary food published through the Internet contained the content that “health care food is not a medicine, and it cannot replace medicines in treating diseases”, which led consumers to believe that the ordinary food was health care food.
X local market supervision that the product is a cross-border e-commerce retail online bonded imports, did not obtain the territory did not obtain health food registration, in the “Customs Declaration of Imported Goods” in the product category: other number is not listed in the food, the Customs determined that it is ordinary food.
2023 The Market Supervision Bureau of Place S imposed an administrative penalty of 200,000 RMB in accordance with the law on a cross-border e-commerce company for the violation of publishing false advertisements and claiming healthcare and disease treatment efficacy in the advertisement of ordinary foodstuffs.
According to the Market Supervision Bureau of Place S, the party concerned sold ordinary food products through cross-border e-commerce, knew that it did not have the relevant health food functions and disease treatment efficacy, but embedded the relevant illegal terms in the pictures in an attempt to bypass the crackdown of the supervisory authorities, highlighted the function of a certain ingredient of the product in the publicity, and used exaggerated and implied methods to make the consumers misunderstand the situation.
Recognition of cross-border health food products
Cross-border imports of health products, did not obtain the health food registration certificate in China, the Customs found to be ordinary food, a number of domestic local market supervision response column also mentioned: cross-border imports of health products in China did not obtain the health food registration certificate is also recognized as ordinary food, including Tmall International rules produced by the “health care industry false propaganda violation interpretation” clearly states: cross-border efficacy of food did not obtain the domestic health food qualification certification, it is regarded as ordinary food, and advertising shall not involve the 27 effects of health care products.
Subject of punishment
Cross-border e-commerce previously penalized, basically see the Chinese domestic agents or service providers. This time the legal entity of the administrative penalty is an overseas company. It is inferred that this time the advertiser is the cross-border e-commerce overseas company signed. Cross-border e-commerce companies can’t circumvent China’s domestic regulation by signing agreements with overseas subjects, and the Advertising Law regulates the subjects that place advertisements within China, including overseas legal entities (based on Article 2 of the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China).
Promotion Methods
The previous penalties for cross-border e-commerce advertisements came more from publicity problems on the cross-border e-commerce’s external promotion channels. While in 2023, the market supervision bureau of S place penalized the cross-border e-commerce company, the basis came from the cross-border e-commerce company in the cross-border platform store detail page function description. This should also draw the attention of the majority of cross-border import e-commerce companies.
How cross-border healthcare products can be advertised in a compliant manner
First, without obtaining the registration certificate of health food in China, even if it has health care function in foreign origin, it can only be publicized as ordinary food in China. It is not allowed to use health food efficacy publicity, and at the same time to avoid the use of absolute terms in advertisements, advertisements guaranteeing the function as well as safety, trademark infringement and undue competition. There is also a special place, cross-border imports of health care products overseas have health care functions, in the translation of the label to the cross-border platform details page electronic labeling, pay attention to the original language directly translated because of the efficacy and other violations of the advertising law may lead to violations of the law, in all of the penalties, the advertising language involves functional treatment and prevention of illegal phenomena accounted for the vast majority of cases.
Secondly, if certain cross-border health food products have also obtained the certificate of registration of health food products in China, in addition to the above issues, it is also necessary to pay attention to whether some of the raw materials of the products themselves have the characteristics of both food and drugs, and such food products are listed in detail in the List of Goods that are both Food and Drugs annexed to the Circular on the Further Standardization of the Management of Raw Materials for Health Food Products (2002 edition). Therefore, in practice, it is sometimes necessary to make a further determination on a case-by-case basis as to whether or not a health food advertisement can be deemed to be a false propaganda or a propaganda with the function of preventing or treating diseases, and so on.
From the cross-border policy jointly issued by the department can be seen, cross-border imports are subject to China’s domestic joint supervision of a number of departments. Often cross-border e-commerce usually may be more concerned about the direct face of the customs department regulatory direction, ignoring the Chinese market supervision and China Food and Drug Administration and Management of risk, this time the China General Administration of Market Supervision and Administration of two consecutively released within a month typical, are related to cross-border health care products, to cause the attention of overseas manufacturers.
In China, health food is considered a food product with filing and registration requirements designed to ensure product safety and compliance. For manufacturers and importers, understanding and following these requirements is crucial to ensure a smooth market entry. Through this article, HMK hopes to provide guidance to relevant companies to help them succeed in the health food market within China.
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