News 1+1 | New Regulations "Take the Lead": How to Safeguard Food Safety?

On February 26, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a special press conference and rolled out two major new regulations at once, targeting two key areas: online catering services and online food sales. One regulation focuses on online food delivery and catering services, while the other governs online food shopping and live-streamed food sales. From cracking down on "ghost takeaways" to strictly investigating false advertising; from pressing platforms to fulfill their primary responsibilities to strengthening whole-chain supervision. What exactly is new and stricter about these two regulations? Focusing on safeguarding the bottom line of food safety, News 1+1 explores: New Regulations "Take the Lead": How to Safeguard Food Safety?

What Are the Highlights of the Two New Regulations?

Liu Peng, Professor at the School of Public Administration and Director of the Collaborative Innovation Center for Food Safety Governance, Renmin University of China: I believe there are three key highlights in the newly released regulations:

First, they further refine platforms' regulatory responsibilities, requiring platforms to appoint dedicated food safety directors and supervisors, including for their branch offices, and prohibiting the outsourcing of food safety responsibilities.

Second, they further strengthen the responsibilities of online food operators, mandating that such operators must have physical offline stores and disclose their offline business information in real time.

Third, they further enhance regulatory efficiency and effectiveness, calling for improved cross-regional coordinated supervision and increased administrative penalties for relevant regulatory violations.

To What Extent Can the New Regulations Curb the Phenomenon of "Ghost Takeaways"?

Liu Peng: The introduction of these new regulations can effectively curb the "ghost takeaway" phenomenon to a certain extent.

First, the regulations emphasize platforms' obligation to conduct substantive reviews of merchants during the onboarding process, controlling access at the entry point.

Second, during operations, platforms can require more information disclosure regarding issues related to merchants without dine-in facilities, providing consumers with more reference information.

Third, in the final stage of regulatory penalties, the regulations clarify the cooperation between regulatory authorities in the platform's location and those where violations occur. This better addresses previous loopholes in penalties and supervision. With concerted efforts, the "ghost takeaway" phenomenon can be more effectively curbed.

Can the New Regulations Resolve the Cross-Regional Regulatory Dilemma for Online Food?

Liu Peng: A major contradiction in online operations lies between the regional nature of enterprise registration and the national scope of business operations. To resolve this, the regulations highlight the regulatory responsibilities of two sets of entities.

In contrast to traditional practices, which mainly assigned regulatory responsibilities to authorities in the enterprise's registered location—placing a heavy administrative burden on them with limited effectiveness—the new regulations separate responsibilities into two parts:

On one hand, they leverage the stronger deterrent effect of penalties imposed by regulatory authorities in the enterprise's registered location.

On the other hand, they utilize the information advantages of regulatory authorities in the location where illegal business activities occur.

This combination of strengths complements each other and jointly improves regulatory effectiveness.

How Do the New Regulations Define and Punish Edge-Case Practices?

Liu Peng: The regulations clearly mandate strengthened real-time supervision of fleeting exaggerated efficacy claims in live streams, using real-time screen recording and semantic analysis to determine the nature of alleged false behaviors.

Once the nature of the behavior is confirmed, penalties are imposed based on the degree of harm, ranging from warnings and point deductions to suspension of operations. For cases causing severe social consequences, relevant entities behind false live streams will face legal penalties, including civil liability, administrative liability, and even the most severe criminal liability.

What Key Work Should Platforms Focus on in the Near Future Before the New Regulations Take Effect?

Liu Peng: In implementing the new regulations, platforms should focus on two aspects:

First, platforms must recognize that food safety is a highly sensitive livelihood issue related to national economy and people's well-being, and necessary investments are mandatory.

Second, platforms should also consider that greater investment in food safety can earn more consumer trust, which can offset some costs and ultimately improve commercial benefits.

Therefore, platform enterprises should strengthen their sense of responsibility and make corresponding investments. Of course, in legislative practice, regulatory authorities also need to consider how to balance regulatory costs and benefits.

Source: China News Service - CCTV News Client