The Supreme People's Court ("SPC") has recently drafted and issued the Interpretations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases Involving Food Safety Disputes (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public comments by December 10, 2019.
The Draft for Comment first clarifies the scope of the primary responsibility system and presents two alternatives. And then the Draft for Comment provides for the responsibilities of online food business platforms, stipulating that where the food sold on the online food business platform that is marked as the platform's self-operated business, or the food offered in fact as the platform's self-operated business, though it is not marked as so, is not up to the food safety standard, and the customer claims in accordance with the provisions of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, that the online food business platform shall bear liability for compensation as the seller, the court shall uphold the customer's claim. According to the Draft for Comment, where a customer claims that a food seller's behavior constitutes the term "knowingly" as mentioned in Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the court shall uphold his or her claim, provided that the food seller falls under any of six circumstances, e.g. "where the expiration date specified on the food has already elapsed but is still offered by the seller"; also, it is clearly stated that personal harm is not a prerequisite for punitive compensation concerning food safety.