Recently, the China Food and Drug Administration ("CFDA") and the Ministry of Finance ("MOF") have issued the Measures for Granting Rewards for Reporting Food and Drug Violations (the "Measures"), with immediate effect.
According to the Measures, any party reporting any of three types of offences, such as "violations concerning food safety in the course of food (including food additives) production or operation", shall be awarded incentives in accordance with the Measures. Four circumstances, such as "where the report comes from a corporation whose products are counterfeited, its entrusted agent or the interested party", are excluded from the scope of rewards under the Measures. Moreover, the Measures clarify that, reports eligible for rewards, are, in principle, limited to those made on a real-name basis. Where a whistleblower reports the same violation repeatedly, incentives should be awarded only once. If the violation identified in the end is inconsistent with the reported matter, the whistleblower should not be awarded. In addition, the Measures stipulate that the amount of cash rewards for each case should not exceed CNY500,000 in principle. But under any of four circumstances, such as "reporting systematic, regional food and drug safety risks", the amount of cash rewards should be no less than CNY300,000 in principle, provided that the informant has made particularly significant contribution thereto.