Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate ("SPP") together with two other departments has issued the Plan of the Special Action for Implementing "Four Strictest" Requirements for Food and Drug Safety (the "Plan").
The Plan states that a special action shall be carried out from September 2019 till December 2020 among nationwide procuratorial organs, market regulators and drug regulators to implement the "four strictest" requirements for food and drug safety. For this purpose, the Plan outlines five priorities, and seven measures including "giving full play to the role of public interest litigation and promoting law-based administration". Among others, centering on key areas, efforts will be stepped up to investigate and deal with cases involving violations and crimes; the supervision of non-litigation enforcement in administrative cases concerning food or drug safety will be strengthened to ensure administrative penalties will be enforced completely and effectively; work on public interest litigation will also be strengthened to constantly resolve prominent issues that are common around schools and in online catering services; the "individual-based punishment" mechanism will be put in place, under which not only the enterprises committing violations or crimes but also their principals directly in charge, such as the legal representatives, actual controllers, persons chiefly in charge, and other individuals directly held liable, will be held accountable, and face a ban on practices for a certain period of time or a lifetime ban on practices in the food or drug sector.