In the current epidemic situation, in addition to related medicines, some daily health care products and food have become "short-sought goods".
Recently, there have been frequent cases of drug sales at high prices and antigen sales by individuals being investigated and dealt with by law enforcement agencies.
There are also some businesses and individuals trying to make a profit by playing "side-by-side".
These behaviors are not only seriously immoral, but also disrupting market order and undermining the overall situation of epidemic prevention.
So, what situations might hit the law?
How should consumers take up legal weapons to protect their legitimate rights and interests?
Liang Yali, senior partner of Beijing Jingdu Law Firm and lawyer of Jingdu Criminal Defense Research Center, gave a detailed legal interpretation.
Scenario 1: Is it illegal to require "distribution" of medicines?
Some media investigations found that a separate search for Lianhua Qingwen or ibuprofen on the WeChat applet of a pharmacy showed "no relevant content for the time being", but at the same time, epidemic prevention kits containing Lianhua Qingwen were on sale. The price of one of the products was as high as 428 yuan, and 14 kinds of drugs were forcibly bundled.
There are also some pharmacies that implement mandatory tie-in sales. Obviously, they only need to buy a box of antipyretics, but they have to "distribute" a whole set of gift packages.
A certain city’s Market Supervision Administration received complaints from the masses that they were required to bundle other medicines when purchasing Lianhua Qingwen, and related news rushed to the hot searches.
The city's Market Supervision Administration ordered the pharmacy to suspend business for rectification on the spot, and will further investigate the suspected violations.
Legal popularization by lawyers:
Lawyer Liang Yali said that the "bundled sale" behavior violates my country's "Consumer Rights Protection Law" and "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Drug Circulation" and other laws and regulations.
First of all, Article 20 of the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Drug Circulation" clearly stipulates that drug production and distribution companies shall not give prescription drugs or Class A non-prescription drugs to the public in the form of tie-in sales, free drugs for buying drugs, or free drugs for buying commodities.
Whether it is the "epidemic prevention package" gift prepared by the pharmacy merchants or various compulsory tie-in sales, they all obviously violate the above-mentioned legal provisions.
For illegal acts, Article 40 of the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Drug Circulation" clearly defines the punishment measures, that is, to make corrections within a time limit and to give a warning; 30,000 yuan.
Secondly, the tying sale behavior also violates the "right of independent choice" granted to consumers by the "Consumer Protection Law".
According to Article 9 of the Law, consumers have the right to choose goods or services independently.
Consumers shall have the right to make a free choice of business operators for supply of commodities or services, select freely among varieties of articles or forms of services and decide independently to buy or not to buy any kind of commodities, or to accept or not to accept any item of services.
Moreover, consumers have the right to make comparisons, identifications and selections when they choose commodities or services independently.
As the main body of the market, consumers have the right to buy only the required medicines when they need Lianhua Qingwen medicines, and do not need to pay for the rest of the so-called "gifts" and "epidemic prevention kits".
The behavior of merchants in bundling sales is actually a disguised form of forced buying and selling, which does not respect consumers' right to choose independently.
For this kind of behavior, consumers should be good at using legal weapons to protect their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels, such as requesting consumer associations to organize mediation, complaining to relevant administrative departments and law enforcement departments, and so on.
Finally, the "Administrative Punishment Provisions for Price Illegal Behaviors" clearly stipulates that tie-in sales are illegal acts of price gouging.
Specifically stipulated in item 3 of Article 6, the illegal acts of price gouging include: "In the process of selling goods, compulsory tie-in sales of goods, disguised as a substantial increase in commodity prices" Fees or other unreasonable fees” and so on.
For this kind of behavior, according to the penalty regulations, the seller may be ordered to make corrections, the illegal income will be confiscated, and a fine of less than 5 times the illegal income will be imposed; If it fails to do so, it will be ordered to suspend business operations for rectification, or its business license will be revoked by the industrial and commercial administration.
Lawyer Liang Yali hereby reminds consumers that when faced with illegal business operations that harm the interests of consumers, they must dare to defend their rights and be good at defending their rights. A society ruled by law requires everyone to have legal awareness and actively protect their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels.
For operators, it is also necessary to increase legal awareness, especially for operators in special industries, and do not violate relevant laws for the sake of small profits for a while, and even eventually constitute a criminal offense.
A fair and orderly market environment requires the joint maintenance of all parties. In the face of the epidemic, we can only usher in a warm spring if we work together and work together to overcome difficulties.
Scenario 2: Is it illegal for non-pharmaceutical merchants to hoard goods?
Canned yellow peaches and electrolyte water have also become "sweet pastries" now.
Many merchants are hoarding their goods and doubling their selling prices.
According to media reports, the prices of some of the products on sale in some stores are also higher than those of similar products on the market.
Taking a certain brand of canned yellow peach as an example, in the product list of the self-operated store on the e-commerce platform, the price of a 900-gram canned yellow peach is only 14.19 yuan, but the price of a 700-gram can of the same brand in an offline store has reached 29.8 yuan. Yuan.
Electrolyte water (also known as electrolyte drink) is also "fire".
In the past few days, electrolyte drinks have become another food that has been snapped up after canned yellow peaches. In some areas, electrolyte drinks have been "sold out" and "water is hard to find."
It is reported that many electrolyte water brands have been bundled with the "new crown epidemic" on social platforms.
Legal sources believe that this move is suspected of "skimming the ball", but it is within the scope of compliance.
Legal popularization by lawyers:
Lawyer Liang Yali said that with the spread of the epidemic, the number of patients infected with the new crown virus has gradually expanded. In this process, various "experiences" will inevitably appear. The so-called canned yellow peaches, electrolyte water and other daily food and drinks , have become the "panacea" to relieve the symptoms of new coronary pneumonia.
But in fact, tracing back to the source, this kind of information is only derived from rumors in the society at first, and there is no sufficient medical basis.
Some medical experts pointed out that from the perspective of daily consumption, yellow peaches contain vitamin C, vitamin B complex, β-carotene, lycopene, etc., which are good for promoting metabolism and improving immunity; There are many elements, and potassium is an element that makes people feel happy.
But canned yellow peach is not a "special drug", but more of a "placebo".
Its sweet taste, on the other hand, may also aggravate the symptoms of cough, and too much sugar will also affect the recovery of the throat and other parts.
As for electrolyte water, it is a drink that supplements body functions.
It should be no stranger to people who exercise regularly. They often drink a bottle of "functional drink" after a lot of exercise. This is because they sweat a lot during exercise, and replenishing electrolytes in time can avoid dehydration and other phenomena.
When infected with the new coronavirus, if you can't eat all day while sweating or have severe diarrhea and vomiting, you need to pay attention to supplementing electrolytes.
But under normal circumstances, eating fruits, drinking porridge, medical rehydration salts, mineral water, etc. are all ways to replenish the electrolytes lost by the human body. Although there is no limit on the amount of electrolyte drinks, they cannot be drunk as water. If the sugar and additives in them enter Excessive amounts in the body can also cause discomfort.
Due to changes in the relationship between supply and demand, the prices of commodities in the market fluctuate within an appropriate range, which is a normal phenomenon.
But hoarding and driving up prices are also against the law.
The illegal acts of price gouging stipulated in Article 6, Item 1 and Item 2 of the "Provisions on Administrative Punishment of Illegal Price Acts" include fabricating and disseminating information about tight supply of goods or a surge in market demand, and failing to sell products outside the market in a timely manner without justified reasons. Storage quantity or storage cycle, hoarding a large number of commodities with tight market supply and abnormal price fluctuations, and continuing to hoard after being warned by the market supervision department.
Scenario 3: Is it illegal to resell epidemic prevention materials among friends or acquaintances?
A few days ago, a photography studio in Haidian, Beijing sold antigen detection kits of 25 pieces per box at a price of 250 yuan.
On December 12, Haidian District Market Supervision Comprehensive Law Enforcement Brigade received a tip and conducted a surprise inspection of the photography studio.
According to the on-site inspection and preliminary investigation, the Haidian District Market Supervision Bureau plans to impose an administrative penalty of 300,000 yuan on suspected price gouging and unlicensed operation.
Recently, everyone has more or less seen news about the sale or resale of anti-epidemic materials such as antigens in the circle of friends.
So, how to define whether this behavior is illegal?
Legal popularization by lawyers:
Lawyer Liang Yali said that as early as the beginning of 2020, when the epidemic first spread, the State Drug Administration had issued the "China's Supervision Requirements and Standards for Novel Coronavirus Detection Reagents and Protective Equipment", and made the Novel Coronavirus Detection Reagents the third Class medical device management.
Only enterprises can be the main body of the operation of the third class of medical devices, and they can only operate legally under the condition of obtaining the medical device operation license.
For individuals, they cannot engage in the business activities of the second and third types of medical devices, among which protective masks belong to the second type of medical devices, and the new crown antigen kit belongs to the third type of medical devices.
Individuals in the "circle of friends" are obviously not eligible sellers of antigen detection reagents. Selling anti-epidemic materials such as new crown antigen kits on WeChat Moments and other social media violates the corresponding laws and regulations. If the business volume exceeds 50,000 yuan Or if the amount of illegal income reaches more than 20,000 yuan, it will meet the standard of filing a case for the crime of illegal business operation and shall bear corresponding criminal responsibility.
If the sales are counterfeit and shoddy products, or fake and substandard products are passed off as qualified products, and the sales amount is relatively large, or the crime of producing and selling fake and shoddy products is constituted, and the circumstances are particularly serious, the maximum sentence will be life imprisonment.
As the saying goes, "a gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way." Legal and reasonable business behavior that meets market demand is worthy of encouragement, but it must not touch the red line of the law, and resell or resell medical devices clearly stipulated by the state without the qualification of the business entity. Will be subject to corresponding administrative penalties, and even be held criminally responsible.
Text/Reporter Chen Si