Interpretation by the Supreme People's Court of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law to the Trial of Disputes over Punitive Damages for Food and Drugs
Source: Press Bureau of the Supreme People's Court
The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law to the Trial of Cases of Disputes over Punitive Damages for Food and Drugs, which was adopted by the Trial Committee of the Supreme People's Court at its 1918th meeting on March 18, 2024, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force on August 22, 2024.
Supreme People's Court
August 21, 2024
Legal Interpretation [2024] No. 9
Supreme People's Court
Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law to the Trial of Disputes over Punitive Damages for Food and Drugs
Interpretation of Several Issues on the Application of Law
(Adopted at the 1918th meeting of the Trial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on March 18, 2024, and effective as of August 22, 2024)
This Interpretation is formulated in accordance with the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Food Safety, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administration of Pharmaceuticals, and other laws, and in conjunction with the practice of adjudication, for the purpose of correctly adjudicating cases of disputes over punitive damages for food and drugs, and protecting the safety of food and drugs and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers according to law.
Article 1 the purchaser for personal or family life consumption needs to buy food does not meet the food safety standards, after the purchase in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 148 of the food safety law requesting the producer or operator to pay punitive damages, the people's court shall be supported in accordance with the law.
There is no evidence to prove that the buyer knows that the food purchased does not meet the food safety standards and still purchased, the people's court shall, at the request of the buyer to the actual price paid as the basis for the calculation of punitive damages of ten times the price.
Article 2 Where a purchaser, knowing that the foodstuffs purchased do not conform to food safety standards or the medicines purchased are counterfeit or substandard, requests the operator to return the price after the purchase, the people's court shall support the request.
The people's court shall support the operator's request that the purchaser return the food or drug if the food label, sign or instruction does not conform to the food safety standard, and the food producer can continue to sell the food if remedial measures have been taken and food safety can be guaranteed; if harmless treatment, destruction and other measures should be taken for the food or drug, it shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law and the Pharmaceutical Administration Law.
Article 3 the trustee knows that the purchaser entrusted to buy food or fake or substandard drugs that do not meet the food safety standards and still purchased on behalf of the purchaser, the purchaser in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law or the third paragraph of Article 144 of the Drug Administration Law requesting the trustee to bear the liability for punitive damages, the people's court shall support, but the trustee is not to purchase on behalf of the business, except.
The people's court shall not support the request of a fiduciary whose business is purchasing on behalf of the buyer to bear punitive liability to the buyer and then to recover the compensation from the producer, if the fiduciary knows that the food does not conform to the food safety standards, or the medicine is fake or substandard, and the people's court shall not support such a request. The trustee does not know is not in line with food safety standards of food or fake drugs, substandard drugs and purchase on behalf of the buyer to the purchaser to assume liability to the producer, the people's court shall be supported according to law.
Article 4 food production and processing workshops and food vendors and other production and management of food does not meet food safety standards, the buyer requests the producer or operator in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of article 148 of the food safety law to assume punitive liability, the people's court shall support.
Food production and processing of small workshops and food vendors and other production and management of food does not comply with the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government to formulate specific management measures and other provisions, but in line with the food safety standards, the buyer requests the producer or operator in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law to bear punitive damages, the people's court shall not support.
Article 5 The food does not comply with the food safety standards in respect of the limited amount of substances hazardous to human health in food, the varieties, scope of use and dosage of food additives, the nutritional requirements of the main and auxiliary foods for specific groups of people, the requirements of labeling, marking and instructions relating to hygiene, nutrition and other food safety requirements, as well as the quality requirements relating to food safety, and so on, and the purchaser requests the producer or operator to bear punitive liability for compensation in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law. Where the purchaser requests the producer or operator to bear punitive compensation liability in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support the request.
Article 6 the purchaser of food labeling, instructions do not meet the food safety standards for the reason that the producer or operator to pay punitive damages, the producer or operator of food labeling, instructions defects do not affect food safety and will not mislead the consumer as a defense, the existence of one of the following circumstances, the people's court of the producer or operator of the defense shall not be supported:
(A) does not indicate the food safety standards require that must be labeled matters, but belongs to the interpretation of the circumstances set out in Article 8 except;
(B) intentional mislabeling of food safety standards must be labeled matters;
(C) Failure to correctly label the matters that must be labeled as required by the food safety standards, which is sufficient to cause consumers to misunderstand the food safety.
Article 7 If the purchaser requests the producer or operator to pay punitive damages on the grounds that the labeling or instructions of the food do not comply with the food safety standards, and the producer or operator defends on the grounds that the labeling or instructions of the food do not comply with the food safety standards but do not affect the food safety, the People's Court shall not support the defense, except where the labeling or instructions of the food is defective in accordance with the following cases at the same time:
(a) According to the provisions of Article 150 of the Food Safety Law on food safety, it is sufficient to conclude that the labeling and instruction defects do not affect food safety;
(ii) Based on the facts of whether the purchaser knew of the existence of the defect at the time of purchasing the food and whether the defect will lead to misunderstanding of food safety by ordinary consumers, it is sufficient to conclude that the labeling and instruction manual defect will not mislead the consumers.
Article 8 If the purchaser requests the producer or operator to pay punitive damages on the ground that the labeling and instructions of the food do not comply with the food safety standards, and the people's court shall not support the request if the labeling and instructions of the food are defective but fall under one of the following circumstances:
(A) text, symbols, numbers, font size, font, character height is not standardized, or foreign language font size, character height is larger than the Chinese;
(B) the occurrence of misspelled words, multiple words, omitted words, traditional Chinese characters or foreign language translation is inaccurate, but will not lead to consumer misunderstanding of food safety;
(C) net content, specifications of the labeling method and format is not standardized, food, food additives and ingredients used in the common name or abbreviation is not standardized, the list of nutrients, ingredients, the order of the table, the value of the unit is not standardized, or the list of nutrients value of the modification interval, “0” threshold, the labeling unit is not standardized, but does not lead to misunderstanding of food safety by consumers. Consumer misunderstanding of food safety;
(D) No special storage conditions for food, not in accordance with the provisions of the labeling storage conditions;
(E) food labeling, instructions there are other defects, but does not affect food safety and will not mislead consumers.
Article 9 The operation of food that is not in compliance with food safety standards or the sale or use of counterfeit or substandard drugs constitutes fraud, and if the purchaser chooses to sue for punitive damages in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the third paragraph of Article 144 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, or the first paragraph of Article 55 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers, the people's court shall support the request for punitive damages by the operator.
The buyer in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law or the third paragraph of Article 144 of the Drug Administration Law sues for the operator to bear punitive damages, the people's court after hearing that the buyer's request is not established but the operator's behavior constitutes fraud, the buyer to change to the first paragraph of the first paragraph of Article 55 of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers for the operator to assume the responsibility for punitive damages, the people's court shall authorize.
Article 10 If the purchaser requests the manufacturer or operator to pay punitive damages in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 3 of Article 144 of the Drug Administration Law because the drugs purchased by the purchaser for personal or family consumption needs are counterfeit or substandard, the people's court shall, in accordance with the law, give its support.
Article 11 The purchaser requests the producer or operator to pay punitive damages in accordance with the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 144 of the Drug Administration Law, and the producer or operator argues that the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 144 of the Drug Administration Law should not be applied, and if one of the following circumstances exists, the people's court shall support its defense:
(i) The act of producing or selling small quantities of drugs with the nature of self-help and mutual assistance is not carried out for profit and does not result in the consequences of injury to others;
(ii) Producing and selling medicines based on traditional folk recipes in small quantities and without causing the consequences of harm to others;
(c) Importing small quantities of legally listed medicines from abroad for the purpose of self-help and mutual assistance without making profit.
If it is difficult to determine whether a traditional folk recipe is involved, a determination may be made on the basis of an opinion issued by the drug supervision and administration department or relevant departments at or above the prefecture or municipal level, in combination with other evidence.
Where the decision on penalties made by an administrative organ or the test conclusions, opinions and other evidence provided by an administrative organ or a drug testing organization are sufficient to prove that the drugs produced, sold or used are counterfeit or substandard, the provisions of the first paragraph of this article shall not apply.
Article 12 Where the purchaser knows that the food purchased does not conform to food safety standards, and requests the producer or operator to pay punitive damages of ten times the price in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support the purchaser's litigation request within the scope of reasonable daily consumption needs.
The people's court may synthesize the shelf life, the ordinary consumer's usual consumption habits and other factors to determine the amount of food that the purchaser needs for reasonable living consumption.
Producers or operators claim that the buyer knows that the food purchased does not meet the food safety standards and still purchase claims, shall provide evidence to prove its claim.
Article 13 The purchaser knows that the food does not meet the food safety standards, in a short period of time for many times, and in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, and sued for the same producer or operator according to the amount of each purchase of punitive damages, the people's court shall be based on the total number of purchases of the same food purchased by the buyer, in the scope of the reasonable needs of daily life consumption in accordance with the law to support the litigation request.
Article 14 If the purchaser knows that the food he purchased does not conform to the food safety standards, and purchases the food several times within a short period of time, and repeatedly sues for punitive damages for the same food that does not conform to the food safety standards in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support his or her litigation demand within the scope of the reasonable consumption needs of daily life in accordance with the law.
The people's court may synthesize the shelf life, the ordinary consumer's usual consumption habits, the purchaser's frequency of purchase and other factors to determine whether the quantity of food the purchaser sues for each time exceeds the reasonable needs of daily consumption.
Article 15 The people's court in the process of hearing food and drug disputes, found that the buyer maliciously create producers or operators of illegal production and operation of food, drugs, complaints, prosecutions and other means of blackmail, to the producer or operator to demand compensation, suspected of extortion and blackmail, shall promptly transfer the relevant clues and materials of the criminal offense to the public security organs.
Article 16 The buyer maliciously create producers or operators of illegal production and operation of food, drugs, false impression, prosecution request producers or operators to assume liability, the people's court shall reject the buyer's claim; constitutes a false lawsuit, the people's court shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law, according to the severity of the circumstances of the fine, detention.
Purchaser behavior infringes on the producer or operator of the right to reputation and other rights, the producer or operator requests the purchaser to bear civil liability for damages, the people's court shall support.
Article 17 The people's courts, in the process of hearing food and drug disputes, find that the behavior of the parties involved is suspected of producing or selling poisonous or harmful food products and counterfeit or substandard medicines, and false litigation and other illegal and criminal acts, they shall promptly transfer the relevant clues and materials of the illegal and criminal acts to the relevant administrative organs and public security organs.
Article 18 The people's court, in the course of hearing cases of food and drug disputes, may issue judicial recommendations to the relevant administrative organs, producers or operators if it finds illegal production, sale or use of food or drug behavior.
Article 19 This Interpretation shall come into force from August 22, 2024 onwards.
This Interpretation shall apply to civil cases that have not yet been finalized after the implementation of this Interpretation; this Interpretation shall not apply to civil cases that have been finalized before the implementation of this Interpretation, and the parties concerned have applied for a retrial or have decided to have a retrial in accordance with the trial supervision procedures.
Editor: Wei Yue
