Laws of the Guangdong Province

Administrative Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

on Product Quality

(Originally adopted at the Twenty-ninth meeting of the Standing Committee of the First Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress on March 30, 1995. As revised in accordance with the Decision on Revision of the Administrative Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Product Quality of the Thirty-second Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Second Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress on May 6, 1999.)

Chapter ¢ñ General Provisions

Article 1 In order to strengthen the supervision and control of product quality in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Zone"), protect the legitimate rights and interests of users and consumers, maintain the social and economic order, these regulations are formulated in accordance with the Law of the People' Republic of China on Product Quality and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Standardization, as well as the actual circumstances of the Special Zone.

Article 2 These regulations shall be applicable to the manufacture and sale of products in the Special Zone, as well as the supervision and control over the drawing up and implementation of product standards.

"Products" in these regulations refer to tangible goods, which are processed or manufactured for the purpose of sale.

These regulations shall not be applicable to construction project, but shall be applicable to construction materials, decorative materials and other products used for construction that can keep their original characters and use.

Article 3 The People's Government of Shenzhen Municipality (hereinafter referred to as the "municipal government") shall encourage enterprise to popularize scientific methods in quality control, and adopt international or foreign advanced standard, and draw up an enterprise standard stricter than the international or foreign advanced standard.

The municipal government shall give award to the enterprises or individuals that have made outstanding achievements in ensuring advanced product quality control and in raising product quality to the advanced international standards.

Article 4 The administrative department for technical supervision of the municipal government is the competent department for the supervision and control of product quality in the Special Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "municipal competent department"). The administrative department for technical supervision of each district people's government (hereinafter referred to as the "district competent department") is in charge of the supervision and control of product quality within its administration area under the direction of the municipal competent department.

Other relevant functional departments of the municipal government and district governments are in charge of the supervision and control of the quality of special product within the scope of their respective functions and duties.

Article 5 The user, consumer, news and media organization, or social groups, such as the social organization protecting consumer's rights and interests and trade association, may exercise the social supervision over product quality.

Article 6  Any unit or individual has the rights to expose or complain about the acts violating these regulations to the competent department of government and judicial organization.

Chapter ¢ò Product Standard and Quality Authentication Administration

Article 7 The manufacturer of products shall draw up the enterprise standard, or adopt national standard, trade standard or local standard as the basis for production and trade exchange.

The quality requirement of export product shall be in accordance with the agreed terms in the contract.

The municipal and district competent departments shall provide information and technical service for enterprise to draw up a standard or adopt international or foreign advanced standard.

Article 8  In case that there is no national or trade standards for the manufacture of products which constitutes possible threats to the health or safety of human life and property, the municipal government shall draw up such standard of safety and technique under international standard, which shall be uniformly carried out in the Special Zone.

Article 9 The Manufacturer shall submit the enterprise standard of product to the municipal competent department and other relevant administrative departments for record within 30 days upon the issuance of the standard.

If the enterprise revises the product standard, it shall submit the new standard to the municipal competent department and other relevant administrative departments for record again within 30 days upon the revision.

Article 10 The municipal competent department shall practice rules of authentication for enterprise quality system and a product quality authentication system according to national laws and regulations under the reference of the international customs and foreign advanced standards.

Article 11 The authentication institution of the authentication of enterprise quality system and product quality shall submit the name of attested enterprise, authentication scope, authentication period and result to the municipal competent department for record.

Article 12 The quality appraisal and recommendation of product shall follow the principles of objectivity, justice and transparency. The concrete administrative rules of the quality appraisal and recommendation of product shall be otherwise enacted by the municipal government.

Chapter ¢ó Supervision and Examination of Product Quality

Article 13 The municipal and district competent department shall supervise and examine product quality and deal with malfeasance according to the provisions of laws and regulations.

The supervision and examination of product quality may take forms of random inspection, regular inspection, or daily inspection.

Article 14 The municipal and district competent departments shall not charge for the supervision and random inspection of the product, and the needed expenses shall be listed into the municipal and district financial budget.

Article 15 The municipal and district competent departments may exercise the following functions and powers when supervising and examining product quality:

(1) to order the inspected party to provide the inspection report or qualification certification of the product;

(2) to take random inspection directly, in case that the inspected party fails to provide the inspection report or qualification certification, or the inspection report or qualification certification  is not in accordance with the product obviously;

(3) to inquire the inspected party, interested party and authenticator, and require them to provide evidential and relevant materials;

(4) to inquire about and duplicate the agreement, account book, bill of document, file, record, electronic letter of business and relevant materials relating to malfeasance;

(5) to order the inspected party to suspend manufacture and sale, provide the quantity and conditions about the manufactured, sold and stocked products upon the discovery of malfeasance committed by the inspected party.

Article 16 The following products manufactured in the Special Zone shall be listed into the catalogue of products to be inspected and be inspected regularly or randomly by the municipal or district competent department according to relevant provisions:

(1) the product relating with human health, personal or property safety;

(2) the product listed in the product catalogue of production license;

(3) other products claimed to have important quality problems by the consumer or relevant organizations.

The catalogue of products to be inspected shall be made and issued for implementation by the municipal competent department together with other relevant administrative competent departments.

Article 17 The municipal and district competent department may conduct daily supervision and inspection over the quality of the products manufactured or sold in the Special Zone, according to the quality conditions of products in the fields of production and circulation in the Special Zone, or the conditions reported or complained by the consumer or relevant organizations.

Article 18 When the municipal or district competent departments supervise and inspect the product, it may entrust the inspection institution of product quality to inspect. The manufacturer and seller of the inspected product shall not refuse the inspection.

Article 19 The bases of the inspection of product quality are the followings:

(1) laws, regulations or rules;

    (2) the national or trade standard issued to safeguard human health and personal or property security. The product without national and industrial standard to measure up shall satisfy the requirements of human health and personal or property security;

(3) the quality index or conditions explicitly reflected by the description of product, contract, sample or other means.

The inspection institution of product quality shall issue an inspection report of the inspected product and be responsible for the inspection outcome.

Article 20 The products inspected to be qualified shall not be inspected repeatedly in the same inspection period. The inspected enterprise has the right to refuse repeated inspection except that the competent department doubts the inspection outcome.

Article 21 The inspection institutions of product quality shall take the obligation to keep the business secret of the inspected product. The inspection institution or inspection personnel, who reveals the business secret of the inspected parties, shall be punished according to relevant provisions of the Law of People's Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition.

Article 22 If the product is inspected to be qualified, the inspection fees shall be exempted. If the product is inspected to be unqualified, the inspected party shall pay inspection fee in double.

For the part of inspection fee requiring financial subsidy, the municipal or district competent department shall put forward a budget plan and list it into the municipal or district financial expenditure.

The sample of the product to be inspected shall be provided by the inspected party freely. The inspection institution of product quality shall return the sample to the inspected party after  the inspection conclusion and the expiration of the period for keeping the sample.

Article 23 The inspection institution of product quality shall submit the inspection outcome within the time limit provided by the municipal or district competent department.

Article 24 The municipal or district competent department shall publicize the inspection outcome of product quality to the society and inform the inspected party.

Article 25 The system of providing products for inspection before sale shall be practiced for selling products, which constitutes possible threats to the health or safety of human life and property, in the Special Zone. The inspection before sale shall not overlap with any other legal inspection.

    The seller shall not sell the products until he provides them to the municipal competent department for inspection before sale according to relevant provisions.

    The catalogue of products, which shall be provided for inspection before sale, shall be drawn up by the municipal competent department, and be publicized once a year.

Article 26 The municipal or district competent department may take coercive measure of sealing up or detention upon discovering any one of the following circumstances in the product quality inspection:

(1) the product is explicitly prohibited to be manufactured or sold by laws, regulations or rules;

(2) the product is the evidence of a case and is probable to be lost;

(3) the product will cause damage to the society without being sealed up.

The inspection conclusion of the product having been sealed up or detained shall be made within 15 days. If the period of sealing up or detainment needs to be extended because of the restriction of inspection condition, the period may be extended to another 15 days under the approval of the person in charge of the municipal competent department.

Chapter ¢ô Manufacturer and Seller's Obligation of Product Quality

Article 27 The Manufacturer and seller shall strictly implement the laws, regulations, rules and compulsory standards on product quality, carry out the strict inspection system of product quality, and safeguard the interests of the user and consumer.

Article 28 The marks of product quality, product description and product made by the manufacture shall accord with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Product Quality.

The product, product description and the package of product shall be marked with standard serial number or code of the product.

The product, assembled, processed or renewed with waste or old raw materials or component, shall be explicitly illustrated on the product, package or description.

Food products without package and other non-packed products, which are difficult to be marked because of their nature, may dispense with product marks,, unless the laws or regulations provide otherwise.

Article 29 The seller shall examine the quality certification or other mark of the product to be bought in so as to safeguard the quality of the products for sale.

If the seller is not sure about the quality conditions of purchased products, he shall apply to the inspection institution of product quality for inspection.

Article 30 If a product doesn't accord with the quality provisions of Article 28 of these regulations, and doesn't endanger human health, personal or property security, and has certain use value, it shall be indicated as the "substandard product", "disposed product" or marked with other descriptions illustrating the product quality at the distinguished places of the product or its package for sale.

Article 31 When selling durable consumer goods, the seller shall explicitly illustrate a reasonable quality assurance period, and guarantee the reasonable using quality of the product within the explicitly illustrated period. If the quality assurance period is not explicitly illustrated, it shall be presumed to be 5 years except that laws or regulations provide otherwise.

The catalogue of durable consumer goods shall be issued by the municipal competent department.

Article 32 If the durable consumer product has quality problem during the quality assurance period not for the user's default, the seller shall repair it for free. If the product can't be repaired or can't satisfy the reasonable requirement of use or safety control after reparation, the seller shall replace it with a product of the same kind; If there is no product of the same kind, the seller shall refund the total money paid and take back the original product; If losses are caused to the consumer, the seller shall compensate the losses.

The "substandard product" and "disposed product" stipulated in Article 29 of these regulations shall not apply the preceding paragraph.

If the purchaser and seller have an agreement on the after-sale service of the product, the agreement shall be observed.

Chapter ¢õ Legal Responsibilities

Article 33 Anyone, who is involved in anyone of the following circumstances, shall be ordered to rectify within a prescribed time limit; If he fails to rectify within the time limit, he shall be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan:

(1) the product has no enterprise standard to measure up;

(2) the enterprise standard doesn't accord with laws, regulations, rules or compulsory standard;

(3) the manufacturer of product fails to put the enterprise standard for record according to the provisions of these regulations.

Article 34  The product, which is sold with certification mark while doesn't accord with the certification standard, shall be stopped from sale. The seller of the product shall be confiscated illegal gains and be fine more than one time but less than 5 times of illegal turnover. If the circumstances are serious, the seller may be revoked the certification mark and the certificate.

Article 35 If the certification institution of the certification of enterprise quality certification and the product quality certification fails to report the name of certificated enterprise, the scope, period and outcome of certification to the municipal competent department for record, it shall be ordered to rectify within a prescribed time limit; If it fails to rectify within the time limit, it shall be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan.

Article 36 The manufacturer or seller of the product, whose product quality doesn't accord with compulsory standard, shall be ordered to stop manufacture or sale, be confiscated unqualified product and illegal gains, and be fined more than one time but less than 5 times of illegal turnover; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be ordered to stop business for rectification or be revoked the Business License; If a crime is constituted,  the criminal responsibilities shall be investigated according to law.

Article 37 Anyone, whose product quality doesn't accord the enterprise standard or the product quality situation illustrated in the descriptions or advertisement of the product, shall be ordered to be rectified within a prescribed time limit, and shall not sell the product until it is tested to be qualified after rectification.

Article 38 Anyone, whose product identification doesn't accord with the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 28 of these regulations, shall be ordered to rectify within a prescribed time limit and be fined more than 500 yuan but less than 5,000 yuan; If he fails to rectify t within the time limit, he shall be confiscated the product whose identification doesn't accord with the provisions and be fined more than 15 percent but less than 20 percent of illegal turnover.

Anyone, whose product identification doesn't accord with the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 28 of these regulations, shall be ordered to rectify within a prescribed time limit and be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan; If he fails to rectify within the time limit, he shall be confiscated the product whose identification doesn't accord with the provisions and be fined more than one time but less than five times of illegal turnover.

Article 39 Any manufacturer or seller, who refuses the competent department to supervise and inspect or refuses the inspection institution of product quality entrusted by the competent department to inspect without proper reason, shall be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 10,000 yuan. Any one, who unseals, transfers, destroys or sells the sealed product with quality problem arbitrarily, shall be fined more than 10,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan. If a crime is constituted, the criminal responsibilities shall be investigated according to law.

Article 40 Anyone, who sells the uninspected product that is listed in the catalogue of products to be provided for inspection before sale, shall be ordered to stop sale and submit the product for inspection within a prescribed time limit, and be fined more than one time but less than 5 times of the sum of sold products.

Article 41 Any product seller, who fails to perform the after-sale obligation according to the provisions of Article 32 of these regulations, shall be ordered to rectify within a prescribed time limit; If he fail to rectify within the time limit, he shall be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, he may be ordered to stop business for rectification.

Article 42 Any inspection institution of product quality, which produces mistaken inspection data or mistaken inspection conclusion, shall be ordered to rectify and may be fined 10 times of inspection fee; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to stop inspection and be revoked the inspection qualification or Business Licenses.

Any inspection person, who produces mistaken inspection data or conclusion due to intention or gross negligence, shall be fined more than 2,000 yuan but less than 10,000 yuan; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be revoked inspection qualification; If his act constitutes a crime, he shall be investigated for criminal responsibilities according to law.

Article 43 The administrative punishment of revoking Business License or stopping business for rectification stipulated in these regulations shall be decided by the administrative department of industry and commerce. Other administrative punishment shall be decided by the competent department.

Article 44 If a party does not agree with the administrative punishment made by the district competent department, he may apply to the municipal competent department for review within 15 days form receiving the punishment notice; If a party does not agree with the administrative punishment made by the municipal administrative department, he may apply to the organization of administrative review of the municipal people's government for review within 15 days from receiving the punishment notice.

The organizations of review shall make a review decision within 60 days from receiving the application for review. If a party does not agree with the review decision, he may file a lawsuit to the people's courts within 15 days from receiving the review decision; If the organization of review fails to make review decisions within the time limit, the party may file a law suit to the people's court within 15 days from the expiration of review period.

If the party fails to apply for review within the time limit, and refuses to execute the punishment decision, the administrative department making the punishment decision may apply to the people's court for coercive execution.

Article 45 Any government working staff, who engages in the supervision and control of product quality abuses his power, neglects his duty, or play favoritism and commit irregularities, his unit or his superior competent department shall investigate for his administrative responsibilities; If his act constitutes a crime, he shall be investigated for criminal responsibilities by judicial organ.

Chapter ¢ö Supplementary Provisions

Article 46 "Manufacturer" in these regulations refers to the organization or individual who processes or produces product, or clearly indicates his designation or name on the product or the package of product.

The party supervising the manufacture of the product is deemed to be the joint manufacturer.

"Seller" in these regulations refers to the organization or individual selling the product, including the organization or individual who sells product by means of exclusive distribution, general agency or sales by proxy.

"Quality assurance period" in these regulations refers to the period when the party shall take the responsibility of free reparation, replacement or refund to the consumer from the date of sale.

"Illegal turnover" in these regulations refers to the total amount of money paid for the sold and not sold products, which violate the provisions of laws or regulations and are operated by manufacturer or seller.

Article 47 Quality control of product for export shall be executed according to the provisions of relevant laws of the State.

        Article 48 These regulations shall go into effect as of May 1,1995.