Online purchase of sake unexpectedly produced in Japan's nuclear radiation zone! Consumer's request for return and refund received court support

Recently, the General Administration of Customs has decided to completely suspend the import of aquatic products originating from Japan, in order to prevent the risks of nuclear contaminated water discharge into the sea to the health and food safety of Chinese citizens. In fact, China had already issued three announcements, including the "Announcement on Prohibiting the Import of Some Japanese Food and Agricultural Products", as early as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear leakage accident. The import of food, edible agricultural products, and feed from 10 prefectures including Fukushima, Gunma, Niigata, and Chiba was prohibited to prevent the export of Japanese nuclear contaminated food to China.

However, there are still some foods produced in areas involving nuclear radiation that bypass regulatory violations and enter China. Previously, consumer Xiaomeng purchased several bottles of Japanese imported sake online, only to find that the raw material production area of the sake is located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, which is a food prohibited by national regulations. Therefore, Xiaomeng sued the seller in court. After the second instance of this case, the Fourth Intermediate People's Court of Beijing determined that the involved goods did not meet the national food safety standards, and ruled that the seller should bear corresponding legal responsibilities.

The picture shows the involved sake

Online purchase of sake, but unexpectedly, the origin of the raw materials is adjacent to Fukushima

Xiao Meng previously spent 6192 yuan on a certain online shopping platform to purchase a Japanese imported sake, totaling 24 bottles. After the product was signed for, she did not find the manufacturer and specific address on the Chinese label of the sake. Subsequently, Xiaomeng saw the official website website of the sake brand on the bottle packaging. After logging into the website, the content showed that the production address of the sake was located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. At the same time, according to the product barcode on the outer packaging, it can also be found that the origin of the sake is Niigata Prefecture.

The picture shows the packaging instructions for the sake involved in the case

Xiaomeng opened the sales page of the involved sake again and found that the seller also directly indicated in the product introduction that the raw materials for promoting the sake were from Xinxie County. However, the proof of origin provided by the seller indicates that the origin of the sake is Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

The picture shows the promotional page for the sake involved in the case

Xiao Meng believes that the production address recorded in the certificate of origin is the last production and processing site, and the last process of the sake is filling production, so it can only be proven that the sake was filled in Hyogo Prefecture, and its true origin should be Niigata Prefecture. She also believes that the manufacturer will transport the sake brewed in Niigata Prefecture to Hyogo Prefecture for filling, in order to obtain the aforementioned certificate of origin, and use the certificate of origin in hand to export the sake to China. In addition, Xiaomeng also found records of penalties imposed by market regulatory authorities on other merchants selling the same type of sake. Therefore, in order to protect his legitimate rights and interests, Xiaomeng sued the seller for a return and refund on the grounds that the origin of the sake is a prohibited import area in China and the label is illegal.

In response, the seller argued that according to the certificate of origin issued by Japan, the origin of the sake it sells is Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, so the quality of the sake complies with Chinese laws and regulations. In addition, the seller claimed that they have indicated on the Chinese label of the sake that the country of origin is Japan, which complies with relevant legal requirements. However, the actual producer name and address are not required by law.

The final court ruling supports consumer demands

After the first and second trials, the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court believes that the certificate of origin issued by Japan is inconsistent with the official website of the sake, as well as the promotional content and barcode information of the seller. Therefore, the authenticity of the content of the certificate of origin is questionable. However, the various pieces of evidence provided by Xiao Meng can confirm each other, which is sufficient to prove that the sake is produced in Niigata Prefecture, Japan and belongs to the region prohibited from importing goods as stipulated in Article 1 of the Announcement on Further Strengthening the Inspection and Quarantine Supervision of Food and Agricultural Products Imported from Japan issued by the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in April 2011.

Based on this, the Fourth Intermediate People's Court held after the second trial that the seller's sake violated the prohibition provisions of China's Food Safety Law and did not comply with Article 92 of the law, which stipulates that "imported food safety standards should comply with China's national food safety standards." Therefore, the final judgment supported the consumer's request for "termination of contract, return and refund.".

Be wary of products from nuclear related areas entering China through methods such as off-site filling

"In this case, the seller's imported sake raw materials were produced in Niigata Prefecture, which was affected by the nuclear leakage accident, and filled in Hyogo Prefecture, a non nuclear radiation area. However, the Chinese label only stated that they were produced in Japan. In addition, the seller's promotion directly stated that the raw materials for the product came from Niigata Prefecture, and it was not until Xiaomeng was held accountable that they discovered that the product was produced in a restricted area, and the relevant online information was urgently taken down." The judge stated after the court that these situations reflect the seller's false labeling of imported products, which can easily mislead consumers; On the other hand, it also reflects that some merchants are not familiar with relevant domestic laws, regulations, and policies, lack awareness and identification ability for "prohibited" products, and even directly use local promotional materials in Japan for promotion, lacking proactive awareness of compliance review of imported goods.

In addition, the judge reminded that the case also exposed that food produced in certain areas affected by nuclear leakage accidents may obtain a certificate of origin issued by the exporting country in compliance with relevant regulations of the importing country through methods such as remote filling, in order to evade customs inspection. Therefore, in order to prevent food from entering the Chinese market in relevant regions, it is necessary for all entities in the food import chain, such as importers, cross-border e-commerce, and sellers, to enhance their awareness and identification capabilities, and carry out import commodity sales in accordance with laws and regulations. Customs, quality supervision and other departments should also strengthen their supervision and law enforcement efforts, increase penalties for businesses selling food in nuclear radiation zones, list them on the list of illegal and untrustworthy individuals, strengthen substantive inspections of imported food, and conduct full process inspections of relevant food safety.