Here’s the full text of the June 18, 2014 work plan of the Leading Group under the State Council for fighting the manufacturing and sale of fake and shoddy goods in the on-line environment (关于印发打击互联网领域侵犯知识产 权和制售假冒 伪劣商品工作方案 的通知) (http://www.ipraction.cn/2014/06/25/ARTI1403685293345289.shtml).  The plan involves a range of agencies, including Customs, AQSIQ, GAPP/SARFT, SAIC, Ministry of Agriculture, and the Chinese Food and Drug Administration.

Notice on Issuing the Work Plan for Fighting IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sale of Fake and Shoddy Goods in the Internet Field (Da Jia Fa [2014] No. 3)

All member units of the Leading Group of the National Fight against IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sale of Fake and Shoddy Goods:

The “Work Plan for Fighting IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sale of Fake and Shoddy Goods in the Internet Field” is hereby issued to you, which you are required to implement carefully.

　　Leading Group of the National Fight against IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sale of Fake and Shoddy Goods (“Leading Group”)

　　June 18, 2014

Notice on Issuing the Work Plan for Fighting IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sale of Fake and Shoddy Goods in the Internet Field

This work plan has been developed to implement the spirit of the “Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing the Essentials of the Nationwide Fight against IP Infringement and the Manufacturing and Sales of Fake and Shoddy Goods in 2014” (Guo Fa Ban [2014] No. 13), crack down the illegal and criminal activities of infringing IP and manufacturing and selling fake and shoddy goods in the Internet field (collectively “Infringement & Counterfeiting”) and promote the healthy development of e-commerce.

1. Clarifying objectives and tasks

Starting from June 2014, we will spend half a year of time carrying out a special campaign to address Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field; strengthen the supervision of key websites and online marketing platforms, severely investigate and punish a number of cases, shut down a number of illegal websites and deal with a number of lawbreakers to warn and educate operators and consumers. Meanwhile, in response to the cross-regional, long chain, virtualized and intellectualized characteristics of Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field, we will innovate the modes and means of supervision, strengthen interdepartmental and cross-regional information sharing and law enforcement cooperation, enhance the resultant force of work, improve the long-term mechanism of fighting Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field and maintain the normal order of e-commerce.

2. Highlighting the focuses

(1)   Cracking down on the online sales of fake and shoddy goods. The departments, including the Ministry of Agriculture, SAIC, AQSIQ and CFDA, shall focus on agricultural materials, auto parts, children’s products and the drugs that treat tumors and chronic diseases, strengthen the surveillance of Internet search engines, promptly find the information on fake and shoddy goods and the websites, web pages and various links that are suspected of illegal sales, improve the mechanisms of information submission, clues sharing, case studies and communications.

(2)   Cracking down on online infringement and piracy. The departments, including the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (“Administration”) and the National Internet Information Office, shall launch the special “Sword Net Campaign” against Internet infringement and piracy that focuses on the key fields of online literature, music, films and TV, games, animation and software and the key products of books, AV products, electronic publications, online publications and standard copyrighted works; focus on combating the acts of committing infringement and piracy in the field of mobile Internet and through the use of set top boxes and TV dongles; punish and ban illegal websites of AV programs according to law. The Administration shall intensify the copyright supervision of key websites and standardize the order of the copyright market of works that are transmitted on the Internet. The Ministry of Culture shall regulate the market of online music and games and strengthen the supervision of the online cultural products that use such terminals as mobile phones and tablet computers as carriers. The SAIC and the SIPO shall step up the supervision and inspection of the online acts that infringe patent right and trademark right, intensify the communications with e-commerce platforms, improve the working mechanism of enforcement and case handling, and promptly investigate and punish infringing acts.

(3)   Intensifying the supervision of e-commerce websites. The departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”), SAIC and the National Internet Information Office, shall screen and promptly delete the information on infringing and fake goods by focusing on large shopping websites; shield and shut down the websites that have violated laws and regulations on the basis of the records of the involved websites; strengthen interdepartmental collaboration to investigate and deal with unlicensed websites; intensify the supervision and management of the business conduct of Internet service providers, domain name registration service provides and information service providers; assist the law enforcement department in investigating and collecting the evidences of Infringement & Counterfeiting.

(4)   Intensifying the harnessing of production and processing sources. The AQSIQ shall carry out a special law enforcement campaign to intensify the centralized harnessing of the sources of e-commerce products, strengthen the monitoring, supervision and random check of the quality risks of e-commerce products, promptly announce the results of the random check of product quality; accelerate the building of a product quality traceability system, improve the mechanism of online discovery, notification of clues, source tracing, local investigation and treatment, strengthen the clean-up and rectification of places with concentrated production of e-commerce  products, and launch regional quality enhancement actions; push enterprises to set up the system for assuring the quality of e-commerce products, promote the application of the bar codes for commodities and organization codes; solve the information dissymmetry under the online environment; rely on the 托“12365” system to establish and improve the mechanism of collaboration in fake-fighting enforcement and strengthen joint cross-regional law enforcement.

(5)   Launching a special campaign for cross-border IP protection. The General Administration of Customs (“GAC”) and the post offices shall launch a special law enforcement campaign that targets the consumer products, cosmetics and electrical products transported via mailing and express delivery channels in cross-border online transactions to combat the infringing and illegal acts in the channels for import/export, mailing and express delivery. The Ministry of Public Security and GAC shall improve the mechanism of multilateral/bilateral law enforcement to fight the cross-border crimes of leveraging the Internet to sell fake and shoddy goods.

3. Intensifying supervisory measures

(1)   Collaborating in strengthening enforcement. The competent administrative enforcement departments shall combine online supervision with offline supervision, provide each other with the information on Infringement & Counterfeiting found in production, sales and import/export, intensify the backward tracing of clues of Infringement & Counterfeiting, dig out and clear out the sources of producing and processing infringing and fake products; hand over or report the discovered cases of suspected crimes or the clues thereof to the public security authority in time; strengthen the collaboration in cross-regional law enforcement, improve the system of communicating clues, referring cases and assisting in investigations; hand over any illegal operators of online infringing and fake goods who are found to be in nonlocal places promptly to the law enforcement department at the location thereof or the servers of their websites for investigation and follow-up; report any dispute over jurisdiction to the higher law enforcement department for it to designate the jurisdiction; establish the mechanism of communicating and contacting with large local e-commerce enterprises and the logistic enterprises, EMS enterprises and payment companies related to e-commerce, obtain the information on operations, logistics and payment according to law to enhance case-handling efficiency.

(2)   Intensifying the supporting role of information. The Ministry of Public Security shall strengthen the cooperation with e-commerce platforms, meticulously screen the clues of online Infringement & Counterfeiting and enhance the ability to find criminal activities under the Internet environment; give full play to the advantages of cluster of campaigns, ferret out the production dens, destroy the marketing network and crack down on the criminal activities of online Infringement & Counterfeiting on the entire chain.

(3)   Strengthening social supervision and the self-discipline of industries. We should improve the system of report incentives, guide consumers to report the illegal acts of online Infringement & Counterfeiting and broaden clue sources and channels; improve the system of accepting the reports on the acts of online Infringement & Counterfeiting, case handling and feedback on results; encourage right holders to actively safeguard their own rights; publish the information on the cases involving online Infringement & Counterfeiting and expose typical cases to deter criminal acts and educate the general public. The industry management department shall give full play to the roles of industry organizations e.g. the associations and chamber of commerce, in the field of e-commerce, to conduct industry self-discipline and cultivate the fashion of consciously resisting the acts of Infringement & Counterfeiting in the whole industry.

(4)   Using IT to enhance supervisory capability. The competent law enforcement departments shall innovate the modes and means of supervision, use IT to set up the electronic service supervising network, database of Internet operators, right-safeguarding center for online consumption and reporting platform, develop and apply the engine of searching Infringement & Counterfeiting, information inquiry and monitoring software and traceability technology to enhance the informatization level of Internet surveillance and provide technical support for intensifying supervision and enforcement.

4. Establishing a long-term mechanism

(1)   Promoting the improvement of laws, regulations and standards for supervision of the Internet. The Office of the Leading Group shall join the other related departments in establishing a long-term work mechanism that addresses the characteristics of Infringement & Counterfeiting acts in the Internet field and the vulnerabilities in the supervisory efforts, studying and making opinions on improving the relevant laws and regulations, promoting the release of judicial interpretations, tightening the connection between relevant laws, administrative regulations and departmental rules, clarifying the trading rules, quality supervision, after-sale service and compensation responsibility of e-commerce platforms and online shops, improving the evidence rules for investigating the Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field and the method of protecting online business data, perfecting the standards for exhibition of online products, information disclosure and product verification to provide case handling with institutional guarantee.

(2)   Driving the implementation of corporate responsibility. The industry management department shall guide e-commerce enterprises in improving the internal management system, strictly examining the qualifications of the member merchants, registering their real names, strengthening the examination of the information on the goods sold online, taking the initiative to provide the law enforcement department with the relevant information of operators, and improving the mechanism of accepting and processing reports and complaints as well as  the mechanism for the elimination and withdrawal of illegal merchants; intensify the market supervision of logistics and EMS enterprises, urge the EMS enterprises to strictly implement the post inspection system; study the possibility of establishing the system of real-name postal delivery; guide the e-commerce payment companies, logistics enterprises and EMS enterprises in recording the information, providing information inquiry service as necessary for law enforcement and case handling, and assisting the law enforcement department in carrying out investigations.

(3)   Accelerating the building of the e-commerce credit system. The industry management department and the enforcement supervising department shall accelerate the creation of a fundamental database of e-commerce enterprises and improve the trading credit files of online commodities; promote the exchange and sharing of the credit information of e-commerce enterprises and the relevant information in other social fields; guide e-commerce enterprises in establishing and improving the system for management of customer credit and evaluation of trade credit; encourage the development of e-commerce third-party credit service organizations, the objective and just collection and recording of the credit of operators, establishment of credit evaluation system and credit information disclosure system to provide e-commerce enterprises and consumers with credit service and warn trading risks; strengthen the training of small and medium-sized e-commerce enterprises to strengthen their ability to prevent and identify fakes and cause them to carry out good faith and law-abiding operations.

5. Meet work requirements

(1)   Strengthening organizational leadership. All regions and leading departments shall fully recognize the importance and necessity of fighting Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field, strengthen organization and leadership, assign responsibilities to each level; reinforce the guidance and inspection of the grassroots, coordinate the handling of interdepartmental and cross-regional cases, concentrate resources to investigate and deal with a number of major cases of a serious nature that draw domestic and foreign attention. The Office of the Leading Group and the related departments shall supervise and inspect the implementation of the fight in various places in due time.

(2)   Scheduling. All regions and the related departments shall work out a specific implementation plan in light of their realities, refine the work measures and make all-round arrangement for the purpose before the end of June; collect criminal clues extensively, make careful analysis and screening thereof, sternly investigate, deal with and expose criminal cases, study the promotion of the relevant systems and mechanisms in July ~ December; make all-round summarization of the efforts and form a report to be submitted to the Office of the Leading Group before the end of December.

(3)   Strengthen publicity and education. All regions and the related departments shall make full use of the media, e.g. newspapers, TV, radio and press websites, for timely coverage of the work measures, results and typical cases to expand influence, create an atmosphere of public opinions; extensively popularize the knowledge about discerning fakes, guide consumers and IP right holders in taking an active part, pool the forces of the entire society to jointly address the Infringement & Counterfeiting in the Internet field.