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recently, it was revealed that the "hong kong high-end mooncakes", namely "meicheng mooncakes", which were promoted and sold by "crazy little brother yang" in the live broadcast room, have no offline sales points in hong kong and are not produced in hong kong.

on september 17, the hefei high-tech zone market supervision and administration bureau issued a situation report stating that recently, the "hong kong meicheng mooncakes" sold live by three sheep network technology co., ltd. has attracted attention. three sheep network technology co., ltd. has been investigated for suspected "misleading consumers" and other behaviors in live broadcasts, and will be dealt with in accordance with laws and regulations based on the results of the investigation. the bureau has repeatedly interviewed and urged companies to standardize their business practices in conjunction with relevant departments, and will resolutely investigate and deal with illegal and irregular behaviors in live broadcasts by companies in accordance with the law.

"meicheng mooncakes" are produced in guangdong. on the short video platform, its sales in the past 30 days exceeded 50 million yuan. according to the outer packaging of "meicheng mooncakes", its brand operator is guangzhou meicheng food co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "meicheng food"), and there are two mooncake manufacturers of this brand, one is guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "guangzhou meicheng"), and the other is foshan meicheng food co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "foshan meicheng").

jiupai news visited the production plants of "meicheng mooncakes" in guangzhou and foshan and found that the rumors on the internet that the company had removed its signboard and "run away" were untrue. in the guangzhou plant, except for "meicheng", which is a food production company, the other five adjacent companies have nothing to do with food.

industry insiders said that if a company's business tends to be food production and sales, it is generally recommended that customers consider choosing hong kong, macau and other regions as the place of registration. this is often based on comprehensive considerations such as tax rates, operating costs and policies.

lawyer chen zhen from henan zejin law firm told jiupai news that taking the xiao yangge "hong kong mooncake" incident as an example, if a company is registered in hong kong but actually produced in the mainland, emphasizing that the "hong kong mooncakes" are true during publicity may confuse consumers.

【1】visiting the "meicheng mooncake" manufacturer: the park has not removed the company signboard, and the security guard said that no one is working during the holiday

on september 17, jiupai news visited the factories of meicheng company in guangzhou and foshan. both factories are not large. the former has several floors and is surrounded by several auxiliary buildings in a "c" shape. the latter occupies the second and third floors of an industrial building. the security guard at the door said that the company was closed on the mid-autumn festival and no one was working in the factory.

the second and third floors of the building where the "meicheng company" is located in foshan belong to it. photo/jiupai news huang jialiang

shiling town, huadu district, guangzhou city is the registered place of guangzhou meicheng. on gegang road, the signboard of "hong kong meicheng food" stands on the top floor of meicheng company's factory. there are also the words "hong kong meicheng" and "meicheng·creating china's high-end fashion souvenirs" on the wall of the main building.

the guangzhou factory where "meicheng company" is located. photo/jiupai news huang jialiang

jiupai news saw that there are 6 companies written on the doorplates of the guangzhou factory. in addition to the white "meicheng food technology co., ltd.", the other 5 are a ribbon factory, a glass craft company, a medical technology company, a plastic products company, and a luggage company. at present, the park where guangzhou meicheng mooncake is located has not removed the company's signboard, which is inconsistent with the information circulated on the internet.

according to the national business daily, a relevant person in charge of the human resources department of guangzhou meicheng company said that regarding the controversy caused by meicheng mooncakes, "we are not actually avoiding this issue. we just call on everyone to look at this issue rationally. as a business, we can only say that we are helpless at the moment."

the above-mentioned person in charge took out a stack of copies of relevant trademark registration certificates registered in the trademark registry of the intellectual property department of the hong kong special administrative region government, including "meicheng mooncake", "meicheng", "meicheng gift", "meisun", etc. one of the trademarks was registered on october 9, 2019. "we have also gradually settled down to what we are today," he said.

inside guangzhou meicheng, the company's development history is introduced on its cultural wall. it mentions that in 2019, meicheng group was officially established in hong kong, creating its three major brands; in 2020, the first production base covering an area of ​​10,000 square meters was established in the mainland, focusing on the research and development and production of high-end food; in 2023, two new factories in nanhai district, foshan city and conghua district, guangzhou city were completed and put into production, building a diversified industrial system. the meicheng intelligent manufacturing and high-end food r&d center project was officially launched.

the above-mentioned person in charge did not deny that meicheng mooncakes, which have the identity of a "hong kong brand", are indeed produced in the mainland. he said: "(online questioning) why do we register a company in hong kong and then produce in the mainland? i believe that there is no law that stipulates that i cannot produce in the mainland if i register a brand in hong kong, right? if you think there is something wrong with this, you can also cite some relevant laws and regulations."

【2】 meicheng mooncakes has been fined several times for excessive packaging and other issues.

the controversy surrounding meicheng mooncakes was mainly due to the fact that they vigorously promoted "hong kong high-end mooncakes" during the live broadcast, but they were suspected not to be sold in hong kong.

according to a report by blue whale news on september 12, "crazy little yang ge" and his live broadcast room both sold mooncakes under the hong kong meicheng brand, which came in different styles, including 99 yuan for 3 boxes and 169 yuan for 3 boxes. this mooncake was not found for sale on hong kong's largest online shopping platform, and the live broadcast did not mention whether the product was sold in hong kong, but emphasized information such as "hong kong high-end brand."

several agents of the mooncake brand said that the company "has no stores in hong kong" and that the production areas are basically guangzhou and foshan. according to a third-party data platform, the sales of the mooncakes on the short video platform in the past 30 days have exceeded 50 million yuan.

the manufacturer of meicheng mooncakes has been punished many times due to problems such as excessive packaging.

in september 2022, the state administration for market regulation announced five typical cases of excessive packaging, one of which was related to meicheng mooncakes.

according to the published case information, the market supervision department of nanjing, jiangsu province found that the nanjing zhongshan road branch of jiangsu beihualian supermarket co., ltd. sold three types of boxed mooncakes, including the "meicheng anna golden bottle mooncake (1.68kg/box)" with a sales price of 499 yuan. the nominal manufacturer is guangzhou meicheng food technology co., ltd. and the production date is july 20. this product does not meet the requirements of the "announcement" that "operators selling boxed mooncakes shall not sell other products in any form; nor shall they sell mooncakes mixed with other products in the form of gift boxes, etc.". the nanjing xuanwu district market supervision bureau ordered immediate corrections in accordance with article 105 of the "law on the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste", and provided administrative guidance in accordance with the "announcement", ordering it to correct the sales behavior that violated the "announcement". after review, the relevant mooncakes have been removed from the shelves.

tianyancha information shows that in october 2016, guangzhou meicheng technology co., ltd., one of the manufacturers of meicheng mooncakes, was fined 50,000 yuan by the guangzhou huadu district food and drug administration. its illegal acts included the first and second paragraphs of article 124 of the food safety law (revised at the 14th meeting of the standing committee of the 12th national people's congress on april 24, 2015).

the illegal acts referred to in the first and second paragraphs of article 124 of the food safety law are the production and sale of foods and food additives that contain pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, veterinary drug residues, biological toxins, heavy metals and other pollutants and other substances that are harmful to human health in excess of the limit set by food safety standards; the production of foods and food additives using food raw materials and food additives that have exceeded their shelf life, or the sale of the above-mentioned foods and food additives.

in june this year, guangzhou meicheng technology co., ltd. was fined 15,000 yuan by the guangzhou huadu district emergency management bureau for failing to deploy safety production management personnel in accordance with regulations.

in february this year, another manufacturer of meicheng mooncakes, foshan meicheng food co., ltd., was fined 55,000 yuan by the danzao town government of nanhai district, foshan city for producing prohibited foods. foshan meicheng food co., ltd. was only established in february 2023.

【3】lawyer: if a company is registered in hong kong but its production is in the mainland, it may confuse the public.

as of press time, meichengli flagship stores on some platforms have removed the same flavor mooncakes as those in xiao yangge's live broadcast room. according to the paper, xiao yangge's douyin account has removed meicheng mooncake-related products from its display window.

according to elephant news, on september 15, eric tsang appeared in the miss hong kong finals. as soon as someone mentioned the word "moon cake", he put down the microphone and left.

jiupai news previously reported that hong kong movie star eric tsang appeared in the live broadcast room of brother yang to sell meicheng mooncakes. his daughter-in-law wang minyi also appeared in the live broadcast room and congratulated brother yang and brother yang on their opening. on august 21, three sheep holdings (hong kong) co., ltd. officially opened. eric tsang, alan tam, kenny bee, benny chan and other hong kong stars attended the opening dinner. according to the daily economic news, brother yang once said in a video that eric tsang is the boss of the hong kong branch of three sheep.

on september 16, the meichengli flagship store on an online shopping platform removed the mooncakes of this flavor from its shelves. photo/website screenshot

chen zhen, a lawyer at henan zejin law firm, told jiupai news that according to the "registration management measures for foreign (regional) enterprises engaged in production and business activities in china" issued by the state administration for market regulation, foreign enterprises engaged in production and business activities in china shall apply for registration with the provincial market supervision and management departments with the approval of the state council and the competent authorities authorized by the state council. foreign enterprises may only carry out production and business activities after they have been approved by the registration authorities and obtained business licenses. enterprises in hong kong, macao and taiwan that engage in relevant production and business activities in china shall also refer to these measures.

he said that compared with companies registered and produced domestically, some companies registered overseas will receive greater tax benefits, which is also closely related to the local specific "investment promotion" policies.

"registration and administration measures for foreign (regional) enterprises engaged in production and business activities in china". photo: state administration for market regulation

according to southern +, the tax systems in the mainland and hong kong and macao are very different in terms of tax year, tax type, tax rate, exemption and deduction items, tax refund plan, etc. for example, the tax type levied on personal income is personal income tax in the mainland, while hong kong has salary tax and profit tax, and macao has occupation tax and supplementary income tax. a staff member of the income tax section of the nansha district taxation bureau said: "which tax type a certain type of income belongs to, what is the tax rate, whether a certain item can be deducted or exempted, these contents are very different under the tax rules of the three places."

jiupai news consulted an offshore registered company as a consultant, and the staff said that if the business of the company tends to be food production and sales, it is generally recommended that customers focus on choosing the registration place in hong kong, macau and other regions. although offshore registration can also be selected in western countries such as the united states and the united kingdom, based on comprehensive considerations such as tax rates, operating costs and policies, hong kong is more cost-effective. "after all, it is the same country, and the principles followed are relatively more unified."

in practice, sometimes the client's company registration place is overseas, but the production place is in china. in this case, we will suggest the client to set up a parent-subsidiary company, "for example, one for sales and one for production. it depends on the specific situation. we must ensure that it is carried out in a legal and compliant manner."

lawyer chen said that, taking the "hong kong mooncake" incident of xiao yangge as an example, if the company is registered in hong kong but actually produces in the mainland, emphasizing the "hong kong mooncake" in the publicity is true, it is suspected of confusing consumers. the "consumer rights protection law" stipulates that business operators should provide goods or services truthfully and comprehensively, and cannot make misleading introductions on the source, performance, use, etc. of goods or services.

for such enterprises, consumers can apply to the place of registration and production when protecting their rights. "in practice, there are also business methods of finding a third party to do the work. however, legally speaking, this entrustment method does not exempt the entrusting party from the quality and safety responsibilities that it should bear as the first person responsible for food," he said.

it also stated that the food safety law and the product quality law both clearly state that producers should be responsible for the quality of the products they produce. and "producers" are not limited to actual producers, but also include the entrusting party. according to the reply of the food supervision division iii of the state food and drug administration to the guangxi provincial bureau's "request for clarification on how to determine producers in entrusted food production" in 2017, the entrusting party is the food producer in the legal sense and bears the quality and safety responsibility for the food.

jiupai news reporter huang jialiang and yang zhen