With the improvement of living standards, people are paying increasing attention to dietary health, and the market is flooded with a wide variety ofኦርጋኒክ ምግብorganic foods, which are natural and pollution-free healthy foods and therefore of high quality and high price. However, many expensive organic foods on the market are merely ordinary goods draped in an “organic” cloak, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to judge the authenticity of organic foods. Xinhua Daily Telegraph once published an article reporting on the false appearances of some organic foods, exposing the counterfeit production chain, and television media such as CCTV News Channel and Finance Channel also carried related reports. The issue of organic food has gradually become a hot topic of social concern. As the competent department for certification and accreditation, the quality and technical supervision departments safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and guide theorganic certificationhealthy development of the product market through various special law enforcement inspections and the investigation and handling of illegal cases, which is their duty. This article attempts to analyze the characteristics of this type of case through a typical case of illegal sales of organic certified products, and draw implications for case handling.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
[Case Facts]文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
In August 2012, law enforcement officers of the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A, Province S, conducted a law enforcement inspection of A Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Company A) in its jurisdiction and found that a certain udon noodle product it was selling bore the word “ORGANIC” on its packaging, with the manufacturer being B Food Co., Ltd. of Province T (hereinafter referred to as Company B). The law enforcement officers requested Company A to provide the relevantorganic productcertification certificates, but the company failed to provide them. The law enforcement officers conducted sampling and evidence collection of the above-mentioned products and immediately initiated a case investigation. During the investigation, Company A submitted to the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A two copies of relevant product certification certificates. One was a domestic organic product certification certificate, and the other was a foreign-language version of a foreign organic product certification certificate. It was later confirmed that neither of the above two certificates was applicable to the products involved in the case. Therefore, the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A ultimately imposed corresponding administrative penalties on Company A in accordance with the law.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
[Focus of the Case]文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
1. Is the domestic organic certification certificate applicable?文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
During the case investigation, Company A provided an organic product certification certificate issued by a domestic certification body D. According to the product description in this certificate, the “organic wheat noodles,” “organic multigrain noodles,” and “organic vegetable noodles” produced by Company B had passed the relevant organic product certification and complied with the relevant organic product standards. Company A claimed that the ingredients of the udon noodle product were “organic wheat flour, natural sea salt, water,” and that the main ingredient was wheat flour; therefore, the udon noodle product it was selling was a type of organic wheat noodle. Accordingly, the District A Bureau sent a letter requesting assistance in investigation to certification body D, which had issued the organic product certification certificate, requiring confirmation of whether “udon noodles” were consistent with the “organic wheat noodles” among the three product descriptions listed in the certificate. Subsequently, the organic certification body replied in writing, clarifying that the products it certified were “organic wheat noodles,” “organic multigrain noodles,” and “organic vegetable noodles,” and did not include “udon noodles.” “Udon noodles” were not national-standard organic products certified by that body.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
Therefore, the District A Bureau held that the domestic organic certification certificate provided by the party was not applicable to this case. The reason is that although Company A provided a valid organic product certification certificate, and the certificate was applied for and held by Company B, the name of the certified product on the certificate did not match the name of the product involved in the case. When conducting organic product certification, certification bodies take products as the object of certification, because different products made from the same raw materials may also have different conditions and methods during processing. Udon noodles and wheat noodles are in fact two different products produced by Company B. Therefore, this organic certification certificate was not applicable to the udon noodle product involved in the case.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
2. Is the foreign organic certification certificate applicable?文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
As the investigation deepened further, Company A provided another certification certificate issued by a foreign certification body. Company A claimed that the products produced by Company B had also undergone foreign organic product certification, and the packaging of the udon noodle product also bore the certification mark of the foreign certification body. In response to the above situation, law enforcement officers investigated the validity and applicability of this foreign organic product certification certificate:文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
(1) Since what the party provided was an overseas certificate and a photocopy, the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A sent a letter requesting assistance in investigation to the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District B, where the product manufacturer Company B is located, to confirm the validity of the overseas certification certificate for the products involved. Upon verification by the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District B, the overseas certification certificate held by Company B was issued by E Organic Certification Co., Ltd.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
(2) In its reply, the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District B also stated that the certification approval document of E Organic Certification Company showed that the company's business scope was subcontracting organic product certification business from foreign organic certification companies, but only for export products.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
(3) The Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of City S also issued an official reply to the relevant request for instructions from the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A, namely that Company A's sales conduct had violated the relevant provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Organic Certification and should be handled in accordance with the law.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
In summary, the District A Bureau held that organic products sold within China must undergo Chinese organic product certification and obtain a domestic organic product certification certificate before they can be sold under the name of organic products. According to the relevant provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification, products that have not obtained organic product certification shall not bear the word “ORGANIC.” Organic products referred to in these Measures are products whose production, processing, and sales processes comply with national standards for organic products. With respect to organic product certification, China has issued the Measures for the Administration of Organic Product Certification and the Implementation Rules for Organic Product Certification, formulated the GB/T19630-2005 national standard for organic products, and established a set of organic product certification systems. Therefore, the sale of organic products within China should be certified in accordance with the above-mentioned national standards for organic products. The foreign organic product certification certificate provided by Company A showed that the product was not certified in accordance with China's national standards for organic product certification. Therefore, in the absence of Chinese organic product certification, domestically produced and sold products, even if they have obtained foreign organic product certification, cannot be directly sold domestically under the name of organic products. The foreign organic product certification certificate provided by Company A was not applicable to the products involved in the case.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
[Implications]文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
1. Cross-provincial collaborative investigation ensured accurate determination of case facts.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
The manufacturer of the products involved was Company B in Province T, which supplied through Trading Company C in Province J to Company A in Province S for terminal retail sale; therefore, the products circulated through multiple provinces. Company A found it difficult to explain the product certification situation in detail. In order to ascertain the facts of the case, the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A sent investigation letters to the above-mentioned out-of-province companies respectively, requiring explanations of the organic certification situation of the products involved. At the same time, the Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of District A also sent a letter requesting assistance in investigation to certification body D located in Province J, and through the certification body confirmed that the domestic organic certification certificate submitted by the party did not cover the products involved. Finally, it sent a letter to the quality and technical supervision department where Company B is located requesting collaborative investigation into the relevant circumstances of Company B's certification. Through multiple cross-provincial letters requesting collaborative investigation, the case investigation gradually became clearer step by step, and the facts were ultimately ascertained and the illegal conduct confirmed.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
2. Open case trial ensured lawful and reasonable penalties.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
Counterfeit organic products have become a hot social issue and are also a relatively new topic in the investigation and handling of administrative illegal cases in quality and technical supervision. In order to ensure the legality and reasonableness of case handling, the District A Bureau invited five experts from the district people's congress, district procuratorate, district discipline inspection commission, district legislative affairs office, and district public security bureau to conduct an open trial of this case, that is, the expert group reviewed the case from various aspects such as jurisdiction, factual determination, and discretionary judgment, and put forward valuable opinions and suggestions, ensuring that lawful and reasonable penalties were imposed in this case.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
3. Reasonable closed loop ensured comprehensive correction of illegal conduct.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
From production to terminal sales, the products involved circulated through multiple provinces. During the case investigation, law enforcement officers had already sent letters to the quality and technical supervision department where the manufacturer is located requesting collaborative investigation. In the process of executing the administrative penalty, the District A Bureau did not simply impose a fine and let the matter drop. In order to better regulate the operations of the organic product production and sales industry, the District A Bureau notified the quality and technical supervision departments where the product manufacturer and distributor are located of the relevant circumstances, achieving a reasonable and effective closed loop, so that illegal business conduct at all stages could be effectively corrected.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
(Author's affiliation: Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of Jing'an District, Shanghai)文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/
China Quality and Technical Supervision, September 2013 issue 文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11439/