The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (COVID-19) has recently distributed the Circular on Effectively Implementing the Mayor's Responsibility Mechanism for "Shopping Basket Program" to Stabilize Production and Supply of Agricultural Products (the "Circular").
The Circular maps out arrangements in eight aspects, including urging the fulfillment of local territorial responsibilities, focusing on the production of products under the "shopping basket program" and ensuring smooth road transportation. Among others, the Circular calls for intensifying the primary responsibilities of the local government, taking the stabilization of production and supply of products under the "shopping basket program" as a top political priority, and strictly implementing the mayor's responsibility mechanism for "shopping basket program", adding that local governments, particular city-level governments shall be responsible for ensuring the supply of vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy products and aquatic products within their respective jurisdiction, and make overall arrangements for production, connection between production and distribution, circulation and transportation, market regulation, quality and safety, etc. Meanwhile, the Circular requires giving full play to the role of circulation enterprises and e-commerce platforms and facilitating the interconnectivity between wholesale markets, logistics and distribution, and points of sale, in an effort to ensure a smooth link between and effective functioning of wholesaling and retailing.