Develop relevant standards for the bird's nest industry as soon as possible and increase supervision. The
market
for
bird's nest is chaotic and consumers are easy to be misled. Experts call on
The chaotic bird's nest market urgently needs to be strongly regulated to provide consumers with a healthy and orderly consumption environment.
Experts suggest that industry and national standards for bird's nest products should be established as soon as possible, and relevant departments should strengthen supervision of the bird's nest product market.
□ Our reporter Xu Wei
□ The reporter's trainee reporter Liu Xin
Known as the leading brand of fresh stewed bird's nest-"Xiao Xian stew" has been on the market recently!
Beijing Xiaoxiandun E-Commerce Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaoxiandun" E-Commerce Co., Ltd. "Xiandun") was fined 200,000 yuan by the Chaoyang District Market Supervision Administration of Beijing, and the supervisory authority ordered it to stop advertising and eliminate the impact within the corresponding scope.
In fact, this is not the first time that "Xiaoxiandun" has been punished by administrative punishment. At the end of last year, "Xiaoxiandun" was fined and warned by the Beijing Chaoyang District Statistics Bureau for "concealing a loss of over 30 million". .
This incident reflected the chaos in the bird's nest market and sparked heated discussions.
In recent years, my country's bird's nest industry has developed rapidly, showing a trend of rapid growth.
But behind this, there are many chaos, such as deceiving and misleading consumers in the business promotion, the quality of bird's nest products is uneven, and similar products are very different in key indicators, and so on.
It is not an exception that bird's nest enterprises are subject to administrative penalties.
Statistics show that about 21% of bird's nest-related companies have experienced business abnormalities, and more than 100 companies have received administrative penalties or committed serious violations of the law.
Several legal experts suggested in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that industry and national standards for bird's nest products should be established as soon as possible, and relevant departments should strengthen supervision of the bird's nest product market.
Chaos in the bird's nest market
According to the national enterprise credit information publicity system, the main illegal facts of "Xiaoxianzhu" include: publicizing "Instant Bird's Nest Ingredients: Bird's Nest", but the actual raw materials used include bird's nest and bird's nest; claiming that 70g of freshly stewed bird's nest contains dried bird's nest. "2.5g (inclusive)-5g (not included), the actual amount of dry bird's nest feed is 3.5g per bottle; the origin of the product is marked as Indonesia, but the actual origin is Langfang, Hebei (Gu'an and Bazhou successively); publicity "It does not contain food additives", but it is unable to provide test report supporting evidence.
In addition, “Xiaoxian Stew” promoted that “fresh stewed water is five times purer than drinking purified water”. After verification, there is no “purity” indicator in the test report submitted by the parties.
In addition, there is no "purity" indicator in the "GB 19298-2014 National Food Safety Standard for Packaged Drinking Water" standard, so it cannot be quantified, so the test standard cannot be directly regarded as the test result of ordinary drinking water.
The penalty for "Xiaoxian stew" this time reminds people of the case of Simba's delivery of "fake bird's nest" that was a hot topic last year.
In fact, whether it is "Simba Bird's Nest" or "Xiao Xian Stewed Bird's Nest" is punished, behind it is the confusion of propaganda in the bird's nest market.
Beauty and beauty, improve immunity, nourish yin and lungs, anti-aging... Merchants and anchors are hype about the effects of bird's nest.
At present, the market has mixed opinions on the nutritional effects of bird's nest. Some people questioned that it was collecting "IQ tax" and some people praised its nourishing effects. However, there are so many kinds of bird's nest products that people do not know how to choose and compare.
Ren Chao, a professor and doctoral supervisor at East China University of Political Science and Law, said that the current national standards for the bird's nest industry are missing. Without an authoritative national standard, the public has lost the basis for judgment.
Faced with the dazzling array of bird's nest products on the market, quite a few consumers feel at a loss as to how to identify and purchase them.
It is understood that even for the same category of bird’s nest products, there is a big gap in terms of production process, key indicators, shelf life, etc. Take fresh stewed bird’s nest as an example, in terms of solid content, some labelling accounts for no less than 90%. %, some account for between 70% and 90%, and some are not marked; in terms of shelf life, there are 7 days, 15 days, and 60 days marked.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Protection Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, told reporters that my country’s bird’s nest industry lacks clear and specific industry standards, and all parties concerned have different understandings of the nutritional value of bird’s nest products. At the same time, consumers are more aware of bird’s nest products. The product lacks full understanding and has the characteristics of blind consumption.
However, some companies took the opportunity to publicize the nutritional value and related effects of bird's nest products, misleading and deceiving consumers.
Ren Chao believes that at present, the cost of fraud in the bird's nest industry is too low and the punishment is insufficient.
Some bird's nest producers and operators lack sense of responsibility and ethics, and the supervision system is not perfect. It is inevitable that there are deficiencies in the comprehensive and effective supervision of enterprises, which is also the cause of frequent chaos in the bird's nest industry.
In addition, some consumers have weak self-protection awareness, the feedback mechanism of the regulatory authorities is not mature enough, and many consumers do not know how to actively protect their rights, thus indulging the chaos in the bird's nest market.
Responsibility for false propaganda
In addition to the heated discussion caused by false propaganda and excessive marketing, "Xiaoxiandou" has also been controversial because of its claim that celebrity users and investors include Zhang Ziyi, Chen Shu, etc., this common way of creating Internet celebrity products.
According to the relevant provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, if operators make false or misleading commercial propaganda on their products, the supervisory authority can order them to stop illegal activities and impose corresponding fines according to the circumstances. If the circumstances are serious, the business license may even be revoked.
In addition, according to the relevant provisions of the Advertising Law, if a business deceives or misleads consumers with misleading or false content in an advertisement, which constitutes a false advertisement, it needs to bear legal responsibility, which specifically includes stopping advertising, eliminating the impact in the corresponding scope, and fines Wait.
Since merchants make false or misleading commercial propaganda when selling bird’s nests to deceive and mislead consumers and need to bear legal responsibility, should celebrities be held responsible for their endorsements?
The Advertising Law clearly stipulates that when advertising spokespersons recommend and certify products and services in advertisements, they should be based on facts and must not recommend or certify products that they have not used or services that they have not received.
According to Chen Yinjiang, there are generally three situations in which celebrity endorsements are liable under the Advertising Law: one is that they have not used the product at all, and they simply endorse without understanding the product. In this case, they must bear corresponding responsibilities; the second is that the celebrity knows or should know. If false advertisements still endorse, joint liability should be assumed in this case; third, if endorsements are related to consumers' lives and health, such as food and medicine, and cause damage to consumers, they should bear joint liability.
Generally speaking, food advertisements are basically likely to involve consumers' lives, health and safety.
Ren Chao said that in accordance with the Supreme People’s Court’s Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Food and Drug Disputes, social groups, other organizations, and individuals recommend food and drugs to consumers in false advertisements, causing consumers to suffer damage and consumption. The people’s court shall support the request of the person to bear joint liability with the producers and sellers of food and drugs in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law and other relevant laws.
Therefore, if the bird's nest recommended by a celebrity spokesperson causes damage to consumers, regardless of whether the celebrity spokesperson is intentionally or knowingly, he must be jointly and severally liable with the bird's nest producer and seller.
"From a legal point of view, the current legal responsibilities and restraints on celebrity endorsements are still insufficient. This is also an important reason for the proliferation of celebrity endorsements." Chen Yinjiang pointed out that some celebrities are investing and holding shares in disguise. Endorsements and deliberate evasion of legal supervision also increase the difficulty of supervision.
Consumers can protect their rights in accordance with the law
Recently, "Xiao Xian Dun" publicly responded that the company has now conducted a comprehensive investigation and rectification of relevant public information.
As for the celebrity spokesperson, the celebrity spokesperson has not yet made a public statement about the punishment of the "Xiaoxian stew". The position of the celebrity spokesperson is very eye-catching in the "Xiaoxian stew" advertisement that pops up when the reporter opens an app.
When searching, the reporter found that "Xiaoxiandou" has modified relevant labeling information and advertisements accordingly, but the product promotion page still contains contents such as "selected Malaysian and Indonesian traceable bird's nest" and "9-layer purified water". In the product parameter page of the platform, the column of food additives displays "None".
As an ordinary consumer, the reporter called the customer service of "Xiao Xian Dian" and asked whether the bird's nest products purchased were returned because "Xiao Xian Dian" was punished for false propaganda?
The customer service said that the penalty was due to the lack of rigorous propaganda language, not false propaganda, or product quality problems.
In addition, fresh stewed bird's nest is a fresh product and can be returned if it has not been issued, and it cannot be returned if it has been issued without quality problems.
Ren Chao believes that if the bird's nest product is indeed a fresh and perishable product with a short shelf life, and the merchant has made an explicit statement at the time of purchase, the seven-day unreasonable return is not applicable.
However, if there are problems such as false propaganda, product quality, etc., the bird's nest can still be used to request the operator to return the product.
Chen Yinjiang believes that false propaganda will undoubtedly mislead consumers, damage consumers' right to know and choose, and may indeed constitute fraud.
However, whether it must constitute a fraud, it needs to be further determined based on factors such as intentionality.
If it is determined that it constitutes a fraud, consumers can demand three times the compensation in accordance with the Consumer Protection Law.
When consumers encounter infringement issues such as false propaganda, they can collect relevant evidence in time and negotiate with the merchant to resolve it.
Chen Yinjiang suggested that if the negotiation fails, you can complain to the consumer association or market supervision department and request mediation in accordance with the law.
If it still cannot be resolved, you can also protect your legitimate rights and interests through judicial channels such as applying for arbitration or filing a lawsuit in the people's court.
Supervise the development of industry standards
"The chaotic bird's nest market urgently needs to be strongly regulated to provide consumers with a healthy and orderly consumption environment." Ren Chao said.
Regulating the bird's nest market is inseparable from the guidelines of relevant standards.
Chen Yinjiang suggested that industry standards for bird's nest products should be established and improved as soon as possible, and product attributes and related nutrition and other index parameters should be clarified, so as to provide a standard basis for the daily supervision of regulatory authorities, the improvement of product quality of enterprises and the rational consumption of consumers.
In addition to industry standards, national standards related to bird's nest are also being formulated.
Ren Chao believes that accelerating the formulation of national standards for the bird's nest market will promote the improvement of the overall service quality and product standards of the bird's nest industry, and will play a positive role in comprehensively improving the industrial quality of the bird's nest industry and promoting the standardized and standardized development of the bird's nest industry.
At the same time, relevant departments must also strengthen supervision of the bird's nest product market, and urge the development of the industry to standardize by increasing random inspections of product quality and daily supervision.
Chen Yinjiang said that if problems with product quality or false propaganda are found, corresponding penalties shall be imposed in accordance with the law, and the investigation results shall be announced to the public in a timely manner.
“When consumers are responding to food safety crises, it is necessary for consumers to clarify their own social responsibilities, give full play to the power of the masses, and promptly report illegal behaviors. More importantly, relevant departments pay attention to and publicize consumer feedback, improve transparency, and form Mature mechanism and strengthen administrative supervision." Ren Chao said.
"Relevant enterprises must operate in good faith and abide by the law, strictly control product quality, and provide consumers with true, comprehensive and accurate product information, do not make false exaggerations or other misleading publicity, and actively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers." Chen Yinjiang Say.
Ren Chao believes that the current penalties for chaos in the bird's nest industry are insufficient. If we want to fundamentally curb the creation of fake behaviors, we must increase law enforcement and penalties at the same time, so that the cost of fraud is far greater than the benefits of fraud, thereby causing offenders. Discouraged.
During the interview, in response to the rectification after the administrative penalty, whether there will be relevant compensation for consumers who have purchased related products before, and how to better protect the rights and interests of consumers in the next step, the reporter has repeatedly asked "Xiaoxian The stewed party called and left a message, and the other party did not respond to related questions as of the time of publication.