On April 24, the 14th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress voted to adopt the newly revised Food Safety Law, completing the first amendment of the Food Safety Law that had been in force for nearly five years.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new Food Safety Law underwent two deliberations at the 9th and 12th sessions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and was revised three times. The new law consists of 10 chapters and 154 articles, 50 more than the current Food Safety Law's 10 chapters and 104 articles.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new Food Safety Law has been dubbed the “strictest in history.” So, what new safeguards will this new Food Safety Law, which will officially take effect on October 1 this year, bring to “safety on the tip of the tongue”? And in what ways is it “the strictest in history”?文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
New Law Shows Its “Sharp Teeth”: Establishing a Severe Punishment System文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
On April 24, at a special press conference held by the National People's Congress on the newly revised Food Safety Law and Advertising Law, Teng Jiacai, deputy director of the State Food and Drug Administration, introduced that the new Central Committee of the Party and the State Council attached great importance to the amendment of this Food Safety Law and put forward the “four strictest” requirements for food safety work, namely, “using the most rigorous standards, the strictest supervision, the severest punishment, and the most serious accountability to reflect the enforcement strength of food safety supervision.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Compared with the old law, the new Food Safety Law increases criminal, administrative, and civil legal liability for food safety violations. Huang Wei, deputy director of the Administrative Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, stated that the purpose of this amendment is to govern chaos with severe measures and to better deter and crack down on illegal acts.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Specifically, the new law has made relatively major reforms in the investigation and handling of illegal acts.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
First, the new law stipulates that once a food safety problem occurs, law enforcement departments must first determine whether the illegal act constitutes a criminal offense. If it is a criminal offense, the public security department will directly conduct investigation and pursue criminal liability. Only if it does not constitute a criminal offense will the administrative law enforcement department impose administrative penalties.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Before the amendment, the Food Safety Law only provided in the last article of the chapter on legal liability that “if a violation of this Law constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
“The addition of this article fully reflects the principle of severe punishment and also responds to the concerns of the general public,” said Teng Jiacai. To strengthen the punishment of lawbreakers and criminals, the new law also contains two provisions. First, anyone sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or a heavier penalty for a food safety crime shall be permanently prohibited from engaging in food production and operation management work.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Second, the penalty of administrative detention has been added, whereas the current Food Safety Law does not provide for restrictions on personal freedom for illegal acts that are not subject to criminal liability. Teng Jiacai pointed out that in reality, many lawbreakers are not afraid of fines, but are afraid of being detained and arrested. In response to this situation, the new law adds administrative detention penalties for serious illegal acts that persist despite repeated prohibitions, such as illegally adding non-food substances, dealing in dead or diseased livestock and poultry, and illegally using highly toxic or highly hazardous pesticides.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In terms of fines, the new law also substantially increases the amount of fines for certain illegal acts. For example, for illegal acts such as producing and operating food with added drugs, or producing and operating infant formula milk powder whose nutritional composition does not meet national standards, the Food Safety Law before amendment provided for a maximum fine of 10 times the value of the goods, while the new law raises it to 30 times.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In addition, the newly revised Food Safety Law also adds penalties for illegally providing premises and strengthens the pursuit of civil legal liability.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In addition to severe punishment for illegal acts, the new law also adds an accountability system—a system of regulatory authorities' responsible persons being summoned for talks.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new law stipulates that if food and drug supervision and management departments at or above the county level fail to promptly discover systemic food safety risks and fail to promptly eliminate food safety hazards within their supervision and management areas, the people's government at the same level may summon their principal responsible persons for accountability talks. If local people's governments fail to perform food safety duties and fail to promptly eliminate major regional food safety hazards, the people's government at the next higher level may summon their principal responsible persons for accountability talks.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Among them, the food and drug supervision and management departments and local people's governments whose responsible persons are summoned for talks shall immediately take measures to rectify food safety supervision and management work.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
“Three Major ”Hard Injuries“—”Nine Dragons Managing Water,“ ”Broken Regulatory Chain,“ and ”Street Vendors Still in a Regulatory Vacuum"—Have Been Improved文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
On February 9, 2015, at a seminar on the Food Safety Law held in Beijing, experts pointed out that the existing Food Safety Law's “many dragons managing water,” “broken regulatory chain,” and “street vendors still in a regulatory vacuum” were the three major “hard injuries” urgently needing resolution. (On March 9, 2015, China Economic Weekly reported on this under the title “Experts Dispute Three Major ‘Hard Injuries’ of the Food Safety Law, Call for Legislation to Emphasize Both Timeliness and Effectiveness”)文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
This amendment did not avoid these three major “hard injuries.” Through the provisions of the new law, it can be seen that the above “hard injuries” have all been significantly improved.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In recent years, food safety problems have occurred frequently, and public opinion generally attributes the cause to fragmented management, presenting a situation of “many dragons managing water.” In this regard, the new Food Safety Law devotes considerable attention. The new law requires the improvement of a unified and authoritative food safety regulatory body, changing from segmented supervision to unified supervision by food and drug administration departments.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In this regard, Huang Wei stated that in 2013 the National People's Congress adopted the State Council institutional reform and functional transformation plan. According to this plan, the State Council made a major adjustment to the current food safety regulatory system. Originally, supervision was segmented, with the quality inspection, industry and commerce, and food and drug administration departments separately supervising food production, circulation, and catering services. The new regulatory system adjusts segmented supervision to unified supervision by food and drug administration departments over food production and operation activities. The improvement made by this new law is precisely to clarify the new institutional changes and provide a legal basis for law enforcement by regulatory departments.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
At the same time, food production and operation is a complete chain. How to strengthen supervision over every link in it and avoid a broken regulatory chain is also a problem that the new Food Safety Law must solve.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Liu Zhaobin, a senior researcher at Peking University's Institute for Rule of Law and Development, once pointed out loopholes in China's food safety regulatory chain: “From the perspective of the international community, the food safety laws of the United States, Japan, and the European Union have basically achieved full-chain management from farm to table, while our chain is broken. The Food Safety Law only starts from food processing and extends to circulation and catering.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In response, the new Food Safety Law provides for the strictest whole-process management of all links, including production, processing, sales, and catering services.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new law stipulates that the state shall establish a whole-process food safety traceability system. Food producers and operators shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, establish a food safety traceability system to ensure that food is traceable. The state encourages food producers and operators to use information technology to collect and retain production and operation information and establish a food safety traceability system. The food and drug administration department of the State Council, together with the agriculture administration and other relevant departments of the State Council, shall establish a collaborative mechanism for whole-process food safety traceability.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Huang Wei stated that the food safety chain is long, from farmland to table, involving many links and many problems. How to strengthen full-chain control of the production and operation process and strengthen risk management during supervision—this new law can be said to respond to these new problems raised in practice.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
In addition, “street vendors still in a regulatory vacuum” is also one of the three major “hard injuries” of the existing Food Safety Law. According to statistics, since the implementation of the Food Safety Law, with regard to specific management measures for food vendors, no more than 8 provinces out of more than 30 provinces nationwide have legislated through provincial people's congresses, and including provinces that have formulated government rules, the number does not exceed 15. In other words, food vendors in China are almost in a state of regulatory vacuum.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Liu Zhaobin said bluntly that this is the biggest hidden worry in current food safety: “There are about 350,000 small and micro food processing enterprises in China, accounting for 80% of the total number of food enterprises. Five or six years have passed since the implementation of the Food Safety Law, yet supervision over this part has surprisingly been ignored.”文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new law requires all localities to formulate specific management measures for small food production and processing workshops and food vendors. According to the newly revised Legislation Law, where a law explicitly requires a state organ to make supporting provisions on a specialized matter, the relevant state organ shall make such provisions within one year of the implementation of the law.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
The new Food Safety Law will take effect on October 1 this year, which means that before October 1 next year, every province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government must formulate specific management measures for small processing workshops and small vendors.文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Reprinted from China Economic Weekly文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/
Full Text of the New Edition of the Food Safety Law
Comparison of Revisions Between the Old and New Food Safety Laws文章源自FOFCC-http://fofcc.org.cn/am/11530/