news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Recently, Li Jianwei, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, posted an administrative penalty notice issued by the Xiamen Siming District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau on a social media platform. The notice showed that a local small restaurant received a "fine" of up to 1 million yuan for attracting customers by paying kickbacks to taxi drivers.

Screenshot of administrative penalty notice (partial)

On July 18, a reporter from Red Star News asked the Xiamen Siming District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for verification of the authenticity of the relevant notice. A staff member said that the above administrative penalty notice was true. At present, the penalty notice is in the issuance stage and is not yet a decision. If the merchant has any objection, he can apply for reconsideration or litigation.

The owner of the restaurant involved, Mr. Shi, told reporters that he had applied for a hearing a few days ago. Mr. Shi said that the restaurant had only been open for three or four months and was still sealed.

Paying kickbacks to drivers for taking customers to stores

Small restaurant receives 1 million yuan "fine"

The relevant administrative penalty notice obtained by Red Star News reporters shows that the small restaurant that was notified of the penalty is a restaurant called Shuai Shuai Xian in Siming District, Xiamen. The notice is dated July 4, 2024.

The content of the administrative penalty notice shows that: after investigation, the store has the following behaviors in the process of providing catering services: 1. Guiding the driver to drive passengers to the store's business premises by paying rebates for driving passengers to the store. 2. Arranging personnel without health certificates to work in contact with food that is directly ingested. 3. Failing to take measures in accordance with the law to prevent food from being contaminated. The corresponding illegal income cannot be determined.

Screenshot of administrative penalty notice (partial)

The notice stated that the store's behavior of paying drivers rebates for driving passengers to the store in order to guide them to take passengers to the store's business premises violated the provisions of Article 7, paragraph 1, item 3 of my country's Anti-Unfair Competition Law and constituted an illegal act of using money or property to bribe individuals who use their influence to affect transactions in order to obtain trading opportunities.

In addition, the notice shows that the restaurant arranged for Lan and others to work in contact with food that is directly ingested, which violated the provisions of Article 45, Paragraph 2 of my country's Food Safety Law, and constituted an illegal act of arranging personnel who did not obtain a health certificate to work in contact with food that is directly ingested. Its failure to take measures in accordance with the law to prevent food from being contaminated violated the provisions of Article 47 of my country's Food Safety Law, and constituted an illegal act of not providing catering services in accordance with regulations.

In summary, the administrative penalty notice reads: "In accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and with reference to the scope of discretion for general circumstances, this bureau intends to impose the following administrative penalties on your store's illegal behavior of using money or property to bribe individuals who use their influence to influence transactions in order to obtain trading opportunities: a fine of 1 million yuan. It is intended to impose the following administrative penalties on your store's illegal behavior of arranging personnel who do not have health certificates to engage in work that comes into contact with food that is directly ingested: a warning. It is intended to impose the following administrative penalties on your store's illegal behavior of not providing catering services in accordance with regulations: a warning."

The reporter noted that the notice stated that the relevant restaurants have the right to make statements and defenses, and can request a hearing. If they fail to exercise their right to make statements and defenses, or request a hearing within five working days from the date of receipt of this notice, they will be deemed to have waived this right.

Local Market Supervision Bureau:

If the merchant has any objection, he can apply for reconsideration or litigation

On July 18, a reporter from Red Star News verified the authenticity of the aforementioned administrative penalty notice with the Xiamen Siming District Market Supervision Administration. A staff member stated that the administrative penalty notice was true.

The staff member introduced that the penalty notice is currently in the issuance stage and is not yet a decision. If businesses have any objections to this, they can apply for reconsideration or litigation based on the corresponding relief measures indicated on the notice.

Tianyancha information shows that Shuaishuaixian Restaurant in Siming District, Xiamen was established in February 2024. The enterprise type is an individual business and is still in existence. The business scope includes catering services, aquatic product retail, takeaway delivery services, etc.

The picture shows the relevant information of Tianyancha

On the afternoon of July 18, Mr. Shi, the owner of Shuai Shuai Xian Restaurant, told Red Star News that he had applied for a hearing a few days ago. The hearing was originally scheduled for July 29, but "I received a notice from the Market Supervision Administration yesterday (17th) saying that it would be postponed. I don't know the specific reason." Mr. Shi said that his restaurant had only been open for a few months and "had not made any money yet." The restaurant is currently under seizure.

In recent years, the "heavy penalties for minor offenses" in the field of administrative law enforcement has often aroused public concern, and the judicial level has also made special responses and corrections to this.

In February this year, the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Standardizing and Supervising the Setting and Implementation of Fines", which clearly requires that the setting of fines should be based on the facts, nature, circumstances and degree of social harm of the illegal acts, and comprehensively consider factors such as the level of economic and social development, industry characteristics, local realities, subjective fault, profit situation, and fine provisions for similar illegal acts, distinguish different situations and deal with them in a classified manner to ensure effective curbing of violations and incentives for law-abidingness.

At a press conference held by the Supreme People's Procuratorate on July 8, Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, stated in his introduction to the next step of administrative procuratorial work that they will focus on strengthening supervision of administrative violations such as "heavy penalties for small cases", "repeated penalties", and "different penalties for the same case" involving enterprises, and effectively solve the difficulties and bottlenecks that affect the development of enterprises.

"In practice, administrative penalties against some small vendors and micro-enterprises violate the principle of 'punishment proportionate to the crime' and impose high fines, which is neither in line with the spirit of the law nor in line with the requirements of fairness and justice," said Zhang Xueqi.

Red Star News reporter Cai Xiaoyi

Editor Guo Zhuang Editor Li Binbin