The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Food Safety (I), which was adopted at the 1813th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on October 19, 2020, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of January 1, 2021.

Supreme People's Court

Interpretation of Several Issues on the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Disputes over Food Safety (1)

(Adopted at the 1813th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on October 19, 2020, and effective as of January 1, 2021)

This interpretation is formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws, and in combination with the practice of civil trial.

Article 1 Where a consumer sues a food producer or business operator for compensation in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law for damage caused by food that does not meet food safety standards, and the sued producer or business operator claims exemption on the ground that the liability for compensation should be borne by the other party of the producer or business operator, the people's court shall not support it. Where the responsibility falls to the producer, the business operator shall have the right to recover from the producer after making compensation; Where the responsibility belongs to the operator, the producer shall have the right to recover from the operator after making compensation.
 

Article 2 Where the food sold by the e-commerce platform operator in the way of marking self-operated business or the food sold by the actual self-operated business without marking self-operated business does not meet the food safety standards, and the consumer claims that the e-commerce platform operator shall bear the compensation liability as a food operator according to the provisions of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support it.

Although the e-commerce platform operator does not actually carry out self-operated business, but its labels are enough to mislead consumers to believe that the e-commerce platform operator is self-operated, and consumers claim that the e-commerce platform operator bears the compensation liability as a food operator according to Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court should support.

Article 3 E-commerce platform operators violate the provisions of Article 62 and 131 of the Food Safety Law by failing to carry out real-name registration and review licenses for food operators in the platform, or failing to fulfill the obligations of reporting and stopping the provision of online trading platform services, so that the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are harmed. Where consumers claim that the e-commerce platform operator and the food operator within the platform bear joint liability, the people's court shall support it.

Article 4 Where the food provided by the public transport carrier to the passenger does not meet the food safety standards, and the passenger claims that the carrier shall bear the liability for compensation as a food producer or business operator in accordance with Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support it; The people's court shall not support the carrier's defense of exemption on the ground that it is not a producer or trader of food or that food is provided free of charge.

Article 5 A unit or individual concerned, knowing full well that a food producer or trader is engaged in the illegal acts prescribed in the first paragraph of Article 123 of the Food Safety Law, still provides him with equipment, technology, raw materials, sales channels, transportation, storage or other convenient conditions, Where a consumer claims that the unit or individual bears joint liability with the food producer or trader in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 123 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support it.

Article 6 If a food distributor has any of the following circumstances and a consumer's claim constitutes "knowing" as provided for in Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall support it:

(1) Food that has passed the shelf life indicated but is still sold;

(2) failing to provide a legitimate source of purchase for the food sold;

(3) purchase goods at an obviously unreasonable low price without reasonable reason;

(4) failing to perform purchase inspection obligations according to law;

(5) falsely labeling or changing the date or batch number of food production;

(6) transferring, concealing or illegally destroying records of food purchase and sale or intentionally providing false information;

(7) Other circumstances that can be identified as knowing.

Article 7 Where a consumer believes that the production or marketing of food that does not meet food safety standards constitutes fraud at the same time, the consumer has the right to choose to claim that the food producer or business operator is liable for punitive damages in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law or the first paragraph of Article 55 of the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests.

Article 8 Where a business operator knowingly sells food that does not meet the food safety standards, but the compensation standard promised to consumers is higher than the compensation standard prescribed in Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, and the consumer claims that the business operator makes compensation in accordance with the promise, the People's Court shall support it according to law.

Article 9 Where a food meets the food safety standards but fails to meet the quality standards promised by a producer or business operator, and a consumer claims that the producer or business operator should bear the responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code, the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests and other laws, the people's court shall support, but where a consumer claims that the producer or business operator should bear the liability in accordance with the provisions of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall not support.

Article 10 Where a food does not meet food safety standards and a consumer claims that a producer or business operator shall bear punitive damages in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law, the people's court shall not support the claim that the producer or business operator has not caused personal injury to the consumer.

Article 11 Where a consumer claims that the producer or business operator is liable for punitive damages in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law if the producer or business operator is produced or marketed without the producer's name, address, ingredients or ingredient list, or the date of production or shelf life clearly marked, the people's court shall support the claim. However, laws, administrative regulations, food safety national standards on the label annotation matters except otherwise provided.

Article 12 Where imported food fails to meet the national food safety standards of our country or the standards temporarily applied by the administrative department of public health under The State Council, consumers claim that sellers, importers and other business operators shall be liable for compensation in accordance with Article 148 of the Food Safety Law. Where sellers, importers and other business operators plead exemption only on the grounds that the imported food meets the food safety standards of the export place or has passed the inspection and quarantine of the entry-exit inspection and quarantine agency of China, the people's court shall not support it.

Article 13 Where the production or marketing of food that does not meet food safety standards infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of many consumers and damages the public interest, the people's court shall accept a public interest lawsuit filed by the organs and relevant organizations prescribed by the Civil Procedure Law, the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests Law and other laws.

Article 14 This interpretation shall come into force as of January 1, 2021.

This Interpretation shall apply to the first and second instance cases being tried by the people's court after the implementation of this interpretation.

This Interpretation is not applicable to cases where the parties apply for a retrial or decide to retrial in accordance with trial supervision procedures after the implementation of this Interpretation.

If the judicial interpretation previously issued by the Supreme People's Court is inconsistent with this Interpretation, this interpretation shall prevail.