The Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Commodities Trading and Relevant Services adopted at the executive meeting of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People's Republic of China are hereby promulgated and shall become effective on July 1, 2010.
 
Zhou Bohua, Minister
May 31, 2010
 
Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Commodities Trading and Relevant Services
 
Chapter 1: General Provisions
 
Article 1    These Measures are formulated in accordance with the Contract Law, the Tort Liability Law, the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, the Law on Product Quality, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the Trademark Law, the Advertising Law, the Food Safety Law, the Electronic Signature Law, and other relevant laws and regulations for the purposes of regulating online commodities trading and relevant services, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and business operators, and promoting the continuous and healthy development of Internet economy.
 
Article 2    Online commodity vendors and online service providers that engage in online commodities trading and relevant services within the territory of the People's Republic of China shall abide by the laws and regulations of China and the provisions of these Measures.
 
Article 3    For the purposes of these Measures, online commodity vendors shall mean the legal persons, other economic organizations or natural persons that sell commodities through the Internet.
 
For the purposes of these Measures, online service providers shall mean the legal persons, other economic organizations, or natural person that provide relevant for-profit services through the Internet, and those website operators that provide online trading platform services.
 
Article 4    The administrative departments in charge of industry and commerce encourage and support the development of online commodities trading and relevant services, and shall implement more proactive policies so as to promote the development of Internet economy. The overall quality and market competitiveness of online commodity vendors and online service providers shall be enhanced so as to leverage the role of Internet economy in promoting the national economy and social development.
 
Article 5    The administrative departments in charge of industry and commerce shall, according to their duties and responsibilities, provide fair, impartial, standardized and orderly market environment for online commodities trading and relevant services, advocate and create an honest market atmosphere, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and business operators.
 
Article 6    Online commodity vendors and online service providers shall not harm the interests of the State or the public in online commodities trading and relevant services, or harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
 
Article 7    When engaging in online commodities trading and relevant services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall follow the principles of good faith and integrity, and abide by generally accepted business ethics.
 
Article 8    When engaging in online commodities trading and relevant services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall follow the principles of fairness, impartiality and voluntariness, maintain the interests of the State, and bear corresponding social responsibilities.
 
Article 9    Online commodity vendors and online service providers are encouraged and supported to form industrial associations, build an Internet integrity system, strengthen self-disciplinary administration and promote the development of a credit system within the sector.
 
 
Chapter 2: Obligations of Online Commodity Vendors and Online Service Providers
 
Article 10    Legal persons, other economic organizations or sole proprietors that have been registered with the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce and have obtained the business licenses shall, when engaging in online commodities trading and relevant services, make available to the public the information stated in their business license or the link to their business license online at a conspicuous place of their homepages or the websites where their online stores are located.
 
A natural person that engages in commodities trading and relevant services through the Internet shall file an application with the online trading platform service provider, and submit thereto his actual identification information such as name and address. A natural person that satisfies the registration conditions shall go through the industrial and commercial registrations in accordance with the law.
 
Article 11    Commodities and services traded online shall comply with the provisions of relevant laws, regulations and rules. Commodities and services that are prohibited from being traded by the laws and regulations shall not be traded online by business operators.
 
Article 12    To provide consumers with commodities and services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall abide by the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, the Law on Product Quality, and other related laws, regulations and rules, and shall not harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
 
Article 13    When providing consumers with commodities or services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall explain to consumers the name, type, quantity, quality, price, freight, delivery method, form of payment, way of returning or exchanging of the commodities or services, adopt measures to ensure the trading is safe and reliable and provide commodities or services in the way they have promised.
 
Online commodity vendors and online service providers that provide electronic contract clauses shall comply with the provisions of the laws, regulations, and rules, and clarify the rights and obligations of the two parties according to the principle of fairness, adopt reasonable and noticeable ways to remind consumers of the clauses concerning their rights and interests, and render explanations to those clauses upon request by consumers.
 
Online commodity vendors and online service providers shall not, by means of using electronic contract clauses, make stipulations that are unfair or unreasonable to consumers, or which mitigate or waive the obligations and responsibilities of the business operators, or which exclude or restrict the main rights of consumers.
 
Article 14    When providing commodities or services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall guarantee the completeness of the commodities and services and shall not sell the commodities or services by unreasonably splitting them or set minimum consumption standards or additionally charge unreasonable fees.
 
Article 15    The issuance of purchase vouchers or service receipts by online commodity vendors and online service providers shall conform to the relevant provisions of the State or common business practices. Upon consent of the consumers, such vouchers or receipts can be issued in electronic form. Electronic purchase vouchers or service receipts can be relied upon when complaints from consumers are handled.
 
When consumers require online commodity vendors and online service providers to issue purchase vouchers or service receipts, they shall do so.
 
Article 16    Online commodity vendors and service providers are obliged to keep safe, reasonably use, hold within the specified time and properly destroy the collected consumer information. They shall not collect or provide information unrelated to their commodities or services; nor shall they make available to the public, lease or sell such information, unless otherwise provided by the laws or administrative regulations.
 
Article 17    The information on trading of commodities or services released by online commodity vendors and online service providers shall be authentic, accurate, complete and sufficient. No false promotion or indication is allowed.
 
Article 18    When providing commodities or services, online commodity vendors and online service providers shall abide by the Trademark Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the Provisions on the Administration of Enterprise Name Registration , and other laws, regulations and rules, and shall not infringe upon the exclusive rights of others to use the registered trademarks or enterprise name rights, etc.
 
Article 19    No online commodity vendors or online service providers shall carry out, among other things, unfair competition acts that damage the business good will or commodity reputation of other business operators or infringe the trade secrets of right-owners by adopting Internet technology means, using the Internet as a platform, or through other means.
 
 
Chapter 3: Obligations of Online Trading Platform Service Providers
 
Article 20    An online trading platform service provider shall examine the status of the legal persons, other economic organizations or natural persons that apply for providing commodities or services through its online trading platform.
 
An online trading platform service provider shall examine and register the real identification information of the natural persons that apply for providing commodities or services through its online trading platform but temporarily do not satisfy the industrial and commercial registration conditions. Such service providers shall establish registration archives and verify and update the same at fixed intervals. Marks proving the authenticity and legitimacy of the individuals' identity information shall be issued through verification, and shall be indicated on the webpage where their commodities trading and relevant services are carried out.
 
An online trading platform service provider shall, when conducting examination and registration, cause the other party to know and consent to the registration agreements, and remind the other party of the obligations and responsibility clauses.
 
Article 21    An online trading platform service provider shall sign contracts (or agreements) with the business operators that apply for entering the online trading platform to conduct trading, expressly stipulating the rights and obligations of both parties concerned with entry and exit of the online trading platform, quality assurance of commodities and services, protection of rights and interests of consumers, etc.
 
Article 22    An online trading platform service provider shall formulate rules and systems on the administration of its online trading platform including, among other things, trading rules, trading security guarantee, protection of rights and interests of consumers, disposal of undesirable information. The rules and systems shall be available on its website and the users shall be able to conveniently read and save the entire texts of them, free from technological difficulties.
 
An online trading platform service provider shall adopt necessary technical approaches and management measures to ensure the normal operation of the online trading platforms, provide a necessary and reliable trading environment and trading services and maintain the order of online trading.
 
Article 23    An online trading platform service provider shall establish an examination and monitoring system for business operators that provide commodities or services through its online trading platform and for the commodities and service information they have released and shall, when discovering any act violating the laws, regulations and rules on industrial and commercial administration, report to the local administrative department in charge of industry and commerce, take immediate measures to stop such acts, and cease to provide online trading platform services when necessary.
 
Where an administrative department in charge of industry and commerce discovers on an online trading platform any act violating the laws, regulations and rules on industrial and commercial administration, it shall require the online trading platform service provider to take measures to stop such acts in accordance with the law, and the business operator shall render cooperation accordingly.
 
Article 24    An online trading platform service provider shall take necessary means to protect the exclusive rights to registered trademarks and enterprise name rights, etc. Where a rights-owner has evidence to prove that any business operator on an online trading platform has violated its/his exclusive rights to registered trademarks or enterprise name rights, etc., or has committed any unfair competition damaging its/his legitimate rights and interests, the online trading platform service provider shall take necessary measures in accordance with the Tort Liability Law.
 
Article 25    An online trading platform service provider shall adopt necessary measures to protect the safety of the information on data and materials related to the trade secrets of business operators or the personal information of consumers. Without consent of the parties to a transaction, the name list of parties, transaction records, and other data that are related to the trade secrets of business operators or personal information of consumers shall not be disclosed, transferred, leased, or sold to a third party, unless otherwise provided by the laws and administrative regulations.
 
Article 26    An online trading platform service provider shall establish a system for consumer dispute reconciliation and for consumer rights protection and self-discipline. When consumers purchase commodities or receive services on an online trading platform, in cases of consumer disputes or prejudice of their legitimate rights and interests, the online trading platform service providers shall provide the actual website registration information of the business operators to the consumers, and assist the consumers in protecting their legitimate rights and interests.
 
Article 27    Online trading platform service providers are encouraged to provide fair and impartial credit rating services for transacting parties, gather and record the credit information of business operators in an objective and impartial manner, and establish a credit rating system and a credit disclosure system so as to warn consumers of transaction risks.
 
Article 28    An online trading platform service provider shall take the initiative to assist the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce in investigating and punishing illegal online business operations, and provide the registration information, trading data back-up, etc., of the business operators that have committed illegal operations on its online trading platform, and shall not conceal the true facts or refuse or obstruct administrative law enforcement and examination.
 
Article 29    An online trading platform service provider shall examine, record, and preserve the content of online commodities trading and relevant service information released on its platform and the time of releasing. The back-up copy of the business license of the business operators or the real identification information of individuals shall be preserved for at least two years after the date of deregistration of the business operator on the online trading platform, and transaction records and other information records shall be preserved for at least two years after the date when the transaction is done.
 
An online trading platform service provider shall ensure the completeness and security of the data and materials related to the online trading, and shall guarantee the authenticity of the original data by adopting data back-up, restoring to normal operation after breakdown and other technical means.
 
Article 30    Online trading platform service providers shall, on a regular basis, submit the statistical materials related to online commodities trading and the operation of relevant services to the local administrative department in charge of industry and commerce according to the content required by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
 
Article 31    Online service operators that provide network access, server hosting, renting of virtual space, and other services for online commodities trading and relevant services shall require the applicants to provide their operation qualification and real identification information of individuals, sign online service contracts and record their Internet use information in accordance with the law. The business licenses of applicants and actual identification information of individuals and the back-ups of other information records shall be preserved for at least 60 days.
 
 
Chapter 4: Supervision and Administration of Online Commodities Trading and Relevant Services
 
Article 32    The administrative departments in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of online commodities trading and relevant services.
 
Article 33    The administrative departments in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above shall set up credit archives to record routine supervision and examination results and the handling and punishment of illegal acts, etc. Classified credit supervision and administration shall be applied to online commodity vendors and online service providers based on their records in the credit archives.
 
Article 34    Where any operator violates the provisions of the laws and regulations on industrial and commercial administration and the case is serious enough to merit sanctions to prevent the illegal website from continuing the illegal activities, the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, file a request with the telecommunications administration department at the place where the website is licensed to order temporary blocking of the website or suspension of the network access service for the illegal website.
 
Article 35    After the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce has imposed administrative penalties against the illegal acts of a website, if the illegal website shall be closed down, a request shall be filed with the telecommunications administration department at the place where the website is licensed to close down the illegal website in accordance with the relevant provisions.
 
Article 36    Illegal acts related to online commodities trading and relevant services fall under the jurisdiction of the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above where the operator of the illegal website is domiciled. Where it is difficult for the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above at the place where the operator of the website is domiciled to impose sanctions on a wrong-doer in a different place, it may transfer the said case to the administrative department in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above at the place where the wrong-doer is located.
 
Article 37    The administrative department in charge of industry and commerce at the county level or above shall establish a regulatory responsibility system and accountability system for online commodities trading and relevant services and shall perform their duties and responsibilities on industrial and commercial administration in accordance with the law.
 
 
Chapter 5: Legal Liabilities
 
Article 38    Violations of the provisions of these Measures are subject to penalties in accordance with relevant laws and regulations where applicable laws and regulations are available.
 
Article 39    Violations of the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 10, Article 28, 29 or 30 of these Measures are subject to a warning and order to make rectifications within a specified time limit, in case of failure to rectify the wrong doing within the specified time limit, a fine of no more than RMB 10,000.
 
Article 40    Violations of the provisions of Article 20 of these Measures are subject to an order to make rectifications within a specified time limit, in case of failure to rectify the wrong doing within the specified time limit, a fine of no less than RMB 10,000 but no more than RMB 30,000.
 
Article 41    Violations of Article 16 and 25 of these Measures by infringing personal information of consumers are subject to a warning and order to make rectifications within a prescribed time limit, in case of failure to rectify the wrong doing within the prescribed time limit, a fine of no more than RMB 10,000.
Anyone that has infringed on the trade secrets of business operators in violation of Article 25 of these Measures by infringing trade secrets of business operators are subject to sanctions in accordance with the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Certain Provisions on Prohibition of Infringement of Trade Secrets.
 
 
Chapter 6: Supplementary Provisions
 
Article 42    The State Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.
 
Article 43    The provincial administrative department in charge of industry and commerce may formulate guiding opinions for the implementation of online commodities trading and relevant services based on the provisions of these Measures.
 
Article 44    These Measures shall become effective on July 1, 2010.