Interim Administrative Measures for Supervisory Spot Checks of Product Quality

Interim Administrative Measures for Supervisory Spot Checks of Product Quality

Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 18

November 21, 2019

The Interim Administrative Measures for Supervisory Spot Checks of Product Quality, deliberated and adopted at the 14th Executive Meeting in 2019 of the State Administration for Market Regulation on November 8, 2019, are hereby issued and shall come into force as of January 1, 2020.

Director: Xiao Yaqing

Interim Administrative Measures for Supervisory Spot Checks of Product Quality

(Issued by the Order of the State Administration for Market Regulation No. 18 on November 21, 2019)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 The Measures are formulated in accordance with the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests and other laws and administrative regulations in order to strengthen the supervision and administration of product quality, regulate the work on supervisory spot checks of product quality, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Article 2 The Measures shall apply to the supervisory spot checks conducted by market regulation departments of the products produced and sold within their respective administrative regions.
Where laws, administrative regulations and department rules provide for otherwise on the supervisory spot checks of product quality, such provisions shall apply.

Article 3 For the purpose of the Measures, the term "supervisory spot checks" refers to the activities organized by market regulation departments in accordance with the law with a view to supervising product quality, including the sampling and inspection of the products produced and sold within the territory of the People's Republic of China, and handling of spot check results.

Article 4 Supervisory spot checks are classified into national supervisory spot checks organized by the State Administration for Market Regulation (the "SAMR") and local supervisory spot checks organized by the local market regulation departments at or above the county level.

Article 5 The SAMR shall be responsible for the overall administration, guidance and coordination of the national supervisory spot checks, organize and implement the national supervisory spot checks, summarize and analyze the information on the national supervisory spot checks.
Provincial market regulation departments shall be responsible for the unified administration of local supervisory spot checks within their respective administrative regions, organize and implement local supervisory spot checks at the same level, summarize and analyze the information on supervisory spot checks within their respective administrative regions.
Market regulation departments at the level of city or county shall be responsible for organizing and implementing the supervisory spot checks at the same level, summarize and analyze the information on the supervisory spot checks within their respective administrative regions, cooperate with the market regulation departments at a higher level in carrying out sampling within their respective administrative regions, and undertake the work of handling the results of supervisory spot checks.

Article 6 Expenses for collection, purchase, transport, inspection, disposal and recheck, etc. of the samples which are necessary for supervisory spot checks shall be included in the financial budget of the government at the same level as per relevant state provisions.

Article 7 Producers and sellers shall cooperate in supervisory spot checks, and faithfully provide the materials and information required, and shall not impede or refuse supervisory spot checks in any way.

Article 8 A market regulation department shall not carry out supervisory spot checks on the same mode of products bearing the same trademark produced by one producer according to the same standards (hereinafter referred to as "the same products") more than twice in every six months.
Where a producer or seller subject to sampling can prove, at the time of sampling, that the same products have been presented for the supervisory spot checks conducted by the market regulation department at a higher level within six months, the market regulation department at a lower level shall not carry out the spot checks of the same products again.
The preceding two paragraphs shall not apply to follow-up spot checks of non-conforming products detected through supervisory spot checks and to the supervisory spot checks conducted for dealing with emergencies.

Article 9 Supervisory spot checks shall be subject to the system of sampling-inspection separation. Sampling personnel shall not undertake the inspection of the products sampled by them, except for those subject to on-site inspection.

Article 10 Market regulation departments organizing supervisory spot checks shall announce the results of supervisory spot checks in accordance with pertinent provisions of the laws and administrative regulations.
Without the consent of the market regulation departments organizing supervisory spot checks, neither entities nor individuals may make public the results of supervisory spot checks.

Chapter II Organization of Supervisory Spot Checks

Article 11 The SAMR shall work out the annual plan for national supervisory spot checks and circulate it to provincial market regulation departments.
Local market regulation departments at or above the county level shall work out their own annual plans for supervisory spot checks and submit them to the market regulation departments at the next higher level for record-filing.

Article 12 Each market regulation department organizing supervisory spot checks shall, according to its own annual plan for supervisory spot checks, work out the scheme for and the implementing rules on supervisory spot checks.
The scheme for supervisory spot checks shall include such contents as the product scope of spot checks, work division and schedule requirements.
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