Shanghai Draft Rules Target Overpackaging at Retail, with Fines up to RMB 100,000

Industry summary

Shanghai is pursuing local legislation to curb excessive packaging of goods. Yesterday, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress reviewed the Draft Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on the Reduction of Commodity Packaging. The draft states that sellers offering excessively packaged products could face a maximum fine of RMB 100,000, with enforcement focused at the sales end to pressure manufacturers into reducing overpackaging.

The source of excessive packaging lies with manufacturers. Why regulate sales instead of production? Chen Zhaofeng, deputy director of the Urban Construction and Environmental Protection Committee of the Municipal People's Congress, explained that more than 80% of goods circulating in Shanghai are made outside the city, so local rules cannot directly bind those producers. By regulating the sales stage, however, that constraint can be passed on to manufacturers: to enter the Shanghai market, product packaging must meet Shanghai's requirements.

[Live recording] Shanghai is a large, open market, and non-local goods account for a very high share. Only by supervising the sales stage and transmitting pressure to the production stage can authorities achieve effective control and create broad constraints on commodity packaging.

Those constraints also apply to local manufacturers in Shanghai. Under the draft, sellers and suppliers should explicitly agree that packaging must comply with national mandatory requirements. If it does not, the seller may refuse delivery under the contract. If consumers find packaging that violates mandatory requirements, they may ask the seller to stop selling it and report it to the quality and technical supervision department. During deliberation, committee member Wang Guanchang proposed adding a sentence to make the rule more workable and better protect consumer rights.

[Live recording] The consumer has been given this right—so how can it be exercised? The text should add that the municipal quality supervision department must promptly investigate and handle the matter and give timely feedback on the outcome to the whistleblower. With that sentence, the right can actually be implemented.

The draft also designates the municipal quality and technical supervision department as the competent authority, responsible for overseeing packaging reduction across the whole process. This is intended to avoid the drawbacks of segmented management, where everyone is in charge yet no one manages effectively. Sellers who violate the rules face fines from RMB 2,000 to RMB 100,000. Committee member Zhang Jinkang argued that the provision is too general and that detailed penalty rules should be issued as soon as possible.

[Live recording] The gap between RMB 2,000 and RMB 100,000 is quite wide. For a single item, a RMB 2,000 fine is already very high; but for a whole batch—say, a train carload of Wuliangye, all overpackaged—would the fine still be only RMB 100,000? If written this way, it could leave future enforcement in a passive position. A more detailed approach as soon as possible would make it easier to apply.

At present, national mandatory standards limiting excessive packaging exist only for food, cosmetics and mooncakes. For other goods, there is still no national standard defining excessive packaging. The draft requires that the municipal quality and technical supervision department may work with relevant administrative departments and industry associations to formulate guiding standards for commodity packaging.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362058.html