Can online shopping for ＂three noes＂ agricultural products claim compensation

More and more township enterprises began to sell local specialty agricultural products with live broadcast. On the one hand, technology helped agriculture, on the other hand, it also made consumers buy cheap and secure. The increase in online trading volume of agricultural products has also produced some legal disputes and misunderstandings. This column invites Li Tianli, a lawyer from Liaoning Zhuozheng Law Firm, to talk about some legal issues that may be involved in the online purchase and sale of primary agricultural products in the hope of helping the vast number of agricultural enterprises, farmers and consumers.

Lawyer Li Tianli of Liaoning Zhuozheng Law Firm

Recently, an enterprise consulting lawyer selling primary agricultural products online, some customers bought some agricultural products in their online shop through their live broadcast. After receiving them, consumers found that the outer packaging had no production date, thinking that it was a three-no product and demanding compensation. After investigation, consumers admitted that the agricultural products they bought did not have quality problems, but pointed out that because enterprises did not carry out packaging labeling in accordance with Article 27 of the Product Quality Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), according to the provisions of the Food Safety Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), because the price of the purchased agricultural products was less than 1,000 yuan ten times, they should be compensated according to 1,000 yuan … This appeal is not a case, and many enterprises selling agricultural products on the Internet have encountered such a situation. Then, is it legal that there is no production date for the outer packaging of agricultural products sold by the enterprise online? Can consumers get the compensation they claim according to law?

First of all, let’s take a look at whether it is legal for enterprises to sell "three noes" agricultural products.

"Three No Products" is not a fixed legal concept. In the usual context, it refers to products without production date, quality certificate (or production license) and producer name. Many consumers will ask sales enterprises to take responsibility according to Article 27 of the Product Quality Law, which is actually unreasonable in the field of agricultural products. Because the second article of China’s product quality law makes it clear that the provisions of the product quality law are not applicable to primary agricultural products, we should not claim rights accordingly. However, it can’t be said that the outer packaging of three agricultural products must be legal, and it should be analyzed in different situations. Specifically, according to Chapter V of China’s Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law, agricultural products sold by agricultural product production enterprises, farmers’ specialized cooperative economic organizations, and units or individuals engaged in agricultural product acquisition should be packaged or labeled according to regulations, and can only be sold after packaging or labeling. The package or label shall indicate the product name, place of origin, producer, production date, shelf life, product quality grade and other contents in accordance with the regulations; Where an additive is used, the name of the additive shall also be indicated in accordance with the regulations. Article 7 of the Measures for the Administration of Packaging and Labeling of Agricultural Products: Agricultural product producers, farmers’ specialized cooperative economic organizations and units or individuals engaged in purchasing agricultural products must package the following agricultural products for sale: (1) Agricultural products certified as pollution-free agricultural products, green foods and organic agricultural products, except fresh livestock, poultry and aquatic products. (two) other agricultural products that need to be packaged and sold as prescribed by the administrative department of agriculture of the people’s government at or above the provincial level.If the agricultural products that meet the prescribed packaging are unpacked and sold directly to consumers, they may not be packaged separately.

Combined with the above laws and regulations, we come to the conclusion that not all the sales of three-no agricultural products are illegal. Further, if the agricultural products sold online are pollution-free, green and organic certified agricultural products (except fresh animals, poultry and aquatic products) and other agricultural products that the provincial government thinks need to be packaged and sold, then they should be packaged and labeled according to the Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Law. However, the agricultural products that meet the packaging requirements are unpacked and sold directly or other agricultural products that are not within the above scope are not required to be packaged, and this part of agricultural products can be legally sold. The above provisions seem complicated, but in fact, they are very in line with our people’s daily trading habits and public order and good customs. For example, vendors selling vegetables in farmers’ markets can sell agricultural products as long as they have legal business qualifications, and there is no need to make any marks on the outer packaging, or even the outer packaging; As long as the original packaging of mushrooms and hazelnuts sold in supermarkets is legally marked, it is not necessary to unpack and sell them to consumers.

Secondly, do consumers who buy the "three noes" agricultural products sold online have the right to claim personal compensation according to People’s Republic of China (PRC) Food Safety Law?

According to the second paragraph of Article 148 of the Food Safety Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), "if a consumer produces food that does not meet the food safety standards or manages food that he knows does not meet the food safety standards, he can ask the producer or operator to pay ten times the price or three times the loss; If the amount of additional compensation is less than 1,000 yuan, it will be 1,000 yuan. However, unless there are defects in the labels and instructions of food that do not affect food safety and will not mislead consumers, there is no necessary connection between whether the items marked on the outer packaging labels of agricultural products are complete and whether the packaged products meet food safety standards. Therefore, if you only buy agricultural products without labels and instructions in the process of live shopping, but the agricultural products themselves have no quality defects and cannot prove that they have quality problems or have adverse consequences for consumers, then this situation obviously cannot be compensated directly according to the requirements of this article.

It should be noted that although buying "Three No Primary Agricultural Products" is not a reason for directly demanding compensation, it is by no means an umbrella for selling inferior agricultural products or deceiving consumers! Relevant merchants, live broadcast platforms and anchors should disclose product information truly and completely in the sales process. According to the provisions of the Notice of the General Administration of Food and Drug Administration on Relevant Issues Concerning the Supervision and Management of the Quality and Safety of the Marketing of Edible Agricultural Products, the edible agricultural products can be sold without packaging; Sales of edible agricultural products should be in the booth (counter) obvious position to express relevant information, truthfully announce the name of edible agricultural products, origin, producer or seller’s name or name and other related content.

Online sales is not a place of extra-legality, especially because consumers can’t directly see the products they buy, and they should pay more attention to the true disclosure of relevant information, not to deceive consumers, and to avoid misleading consumers. The lawyer reminded the heads of the live broadcast and online stores that when selling local specialties, everyone must truly disclose the origin information and the quality of the products in a prominent position in their live broadcast rooms and store product display pages, and package them according to law. I hope that the majority of network anchors and merchants will operate in good faith, consider in the long run, truly disclose product information, and cherish the initial intention of consumers to help agriculture. Avoid disappointing the expectations of consumers and affecting their own operations and the overall goodwill of agricultural products in the region.

Original title: "Can online shopping for" three noes "agricultural products claim compensation?"

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