Eight Authorities Jointly Initiate a Special Campaign of Crackdown upon and Rectification of Illegal Production and Sale of Masks and Other Protection Products
Eight departments including the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") have recently issued the Urgent Circular on Launching a Special Campaign of Crackdown upon and Rectification of Illegal Production and Sale of Masks and Other Protection Products (the "Circular").
The Circular announces the decision to launch a joint special campaign, immediately from the date of issuance of this Circular till the end of the epidemic, to clamp down on and rectify illegal production and sale of protection products, such as masks. For this purpose, the Circular sets six goals, including "severely investigating and dealing with unlawful production and sale of, and illegal recycling and sale of protection products, such as masks", and also specifies six priorities. Among others, the Circular states that market regulators and drug regulators will, in collaboration with the relevant departments, focus on crackdown on six types of violations, including "practices of hoarding products for speculation, driving up prices, colluding in increasing prices, and committing price frauds". In addition, the Circular clarifies that market regulators shall step up efforts to inspect more frequently the quality of merchandise, and to tighten investigations of and punishments for illegal acts arising out of online transactions of protection products made through such channels as online platforms, WeChat, Weibo, and livestream shows, adding that whoever is suspected of committing a crime should be referred to the public security organs in a timely manner.