The State Administration for Market Regulation has issued the "Guidelines for the Normative Conduct of Blind Box Operations (Trial)" for blind box operations

Notice of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Issuing the Guidelines for the Normative Conduct of Blind Box Operations

To the market supervision bureaus of various provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

The Guidelines for the Code of Conduct for Blind Box Business have been approved at the 10th executive meeting of the State Administration for Market Regulation on June 7, 2023, and are now issued to you. Please supervise and guide relevant operators to fulfill their main responsibilities, strengthen compliance management of blind box business activities, and effectively improve their awareness of honest and law-abiding operations and consumer rights protection in accordance with the guidance requirements.

the State Administration for Market Regulation

June 8, 2023

Guidelines for Code of Conduct for Blind Box Business

Article 1 In order to regulate the operation of blind boxes, maintain the market order of fair competition, protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and safeguard the public interests of society, these guidelines are formulated in accordance with the the People's Republic of China Civil Code, the the People's Republic of China Consumer Rights Protection Law, the the People's Republic of China Anti-unfair Competition Law, the the People's Republic of China Product quality Law, the the People's Republic of China Electronic Commerce Law, the the People's Republic of China Price Law, the the People's Republic of China Advertising Law, the the People's Republic of China Standardization Law, the the People's Republic of China Law on the Protection of minors, and the the People's Republic of China Anti-Food waste Law.

Article 2 These Guidelines shall apply to the operation of blind boxes within the territory of the People's Republic of China.

The term "blind box business" as mentioned in these Guidelines refers to the business model in which an operator, within the legal business scope, sells goods or services within a specific scope by random selection of consumers through the Internet, physical stores, vending machines and other forms, without informing consumers of the specific scope of goods or services without informing them of the specific model, style or content of services.

Article 3 The term "blind box operator" as mentioned in these Guidelines refers to the subject engaged in the production of blind box goods, the sale of goods in the form of blind boxes or the provision of services.

Article 4 Blind box operators shall follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, and integrity, abide by laws, business ethics, and public order and good customs, fulfill the main responsibilities and social responsibilities of operators, advocate and actively remind consumers of rational consumption, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Article 5 The operation of blind boxes shall comply with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, and is generally carried out in the fields of daily life, art and entertainment.

For the sale or provision of goods or services that require a license in accordance with the law in the form of blind boxes, relevant business activities shall be carried out after obtaining the license.

The laws and regulations clearly stipulate that goods or services prohibited from sale or circulation shall not be sold or provided in the form of blind boxes.

Products such as drugs, medical devices, toxic and harmful substances, flammable and explosive materials, live animals, etc. that have strict requirements in terms of usage conditions, storage and transportation, inspection and quarantine, shall not be sold in blind boxes. Food and cosmetics that do not meet the conditions for ensuring quality, safety, and consumer rights should not be sold in blind boxes.

Express items that cannot be delivered or returned shall not be sold in blind boxes.

Sixth through the Internet, physical stores, self-service sales equipment and other forms of blind box business, should be in a prominent location of the business license and other operators of the main information.

Article 7 Blind box operators shall reasonably determine the price of blind boxes on the basis of production and operation costs and market supply and demand.

Blind box operators shall clearly mark prices for goods or services, and shall not charge any fees that are not marked. They shall not sell goods at an additional price beyond the marked price, and shall not engage in illegal activities such as not clearly marking prices, price gouging, or price fraud in accordance with regulations.

Article 8 In the case of sales in the form of blind boxes, the cost gap between the same set of goods or services shall not be too large. Blind box commodity prices should not be the same non-blind box sales price gap is too large.

Article 9 Blind box operators shall publicize key information such as the name of the commodity, the type of commodity, the style of the commodity, the rules for extraction, the distribution of the commodity, the quantity of the limited commodity, the probability of extraction, the range of the value of the commodity and other key information to the public in a significant manner to ensure that consumers know before purchasing.

Blind box operators are not allowed to indirectly induce consumption by manipulating the extraction results or arbitrarily adjusting the extraction probability through backend manipulation. Blind boxes shall not be refused or deliberately delayed in distribution through discounting, repurchase, exchange, or other means. Empty boxes are not allowed.

Article 10 Blind box operators shall establish and improve the system of commodity production and operation records.

If the products are sold through physical stores, self-service equipment and other on-site methods or the Internet non instant public methods, the blind box operator shall retain the sampling probability setting and establish a corresponding sampling mechanism for ex factory probability. If the products are sold through the Internet in a timely and open manner, the blind box operators shall keep complete records of the setting of the sampling probability and the sampling of the results, establish a tracking record system, ensure that the products sampled by consumers are distributed in place, and consciously accept social supervision.

The retention time of relevant records is generally not less than 3 years.

Article 11 Encourage blind box operators to establish a guarantee mechanism to guide rational consumption by setting the time of extraction, the upper limit of the amount of extraction and the upper limit of the number of times.

Encourage blind box operators to voluntarily promise not to hoard, hype, or directly enter the secondary market, and willingly accept social supervision.

Article 12 Blind box operators shall, in accordance with laws and regulations, fully inform consumers of the name, place of origin, producer, implementation standards, performance, specifications, ingredients, production date, validity period, use and storage conditions, safety warnings, "three guarantees" clauses and other basic necessary information related to the quality of the blind box through product labels, consumption prompts, etc. The marked information shall be true and accurate.

Article 13 Blind box operators shall establish and improve the quality assurance system of enterprises, strengthen the management of production, warehousing, logistics and other links, and ensure that the source of goods is reliable and the quality is qualified. The commodities produced and operated by blind box operators shall meet the requirements of laws and regulations on quality and safety.

Blind box products that fall within the scope of mandatory product certification catalog should be certified and labeled with the CCC certification mark.

Blind box operators shall organize production and operation in accordance with standards. If there are no national or industry standards for blind box products, blind box operators should establish corresponding enterprise standards and strictly control supply channels, raw materials, design safety performance, and other aspects.

Article 14 Blind box operators shall not make false or misleading commercial propaganda on the rules of box extraction, probability of extraction, sales status, user evaluation, quantity of goods, specifications of goods, quality of goods, ways of providing services, etc., to deceive or mislead consumers.

Article 15 Blind box operators shall not make unfair and unreasonable provisions to consumers, such as excluding or restricting the rights of consumers, reducing or exempting operators from liability, and increasing consumer liability by means of standard terms.

Article 16 The operators of online trading platforms shall strictly implement the main responsibilities, regularly verify the true information of blind box operators in the platform, establish and improve the inspection and monitoring system, and strengthen the dynamic monitoring of blind box operators in the platform and the goods and services they release. If the operator of the online trading platform discovers that there are relevant violations of laws and regulations in the blind box operating goods or service information on the platform, it shall take necessary measures in accordance with the law and report to the relevant competent department.

Article 17 Blind box operators can return blind box goods sold on the Internet after unpacking them for seven days without any reason after they have fully informed the prompt and confirmed by consumers at the time of single purchase. Blind box operators shall not replace the consumer confirmation link by default check.

Selling the entire series of products in a fully inclusive manner, if the products within the series are clearly identified, the operator shall comply with the seven day no reason return policy for online shopping in accordance with the law.

Article 18 If the goods or services provided by the blind box operator do not meet the quality requirements or are expressly inconsistent with the operator, they shall perform the obligations of return, replacement, repair, etc. in accordance with the law, and shall not deliberately delay or unreasonably refuse.

Article 19: Blind box operators, online trading platform operators and other relevant entities shall establish a convenient and effective complaint handling mechanism, disclose information such as complaint methods, handling procedures, return and exchange standards, and cooperate with the supervision and guidance of regulatory authorities to improve consumer disputes Resolution efficiency.

Article 20 Blind box operators shall strengthen the protection of trademarks, patents, copyrights and other related intellectual property rights of their own goods, regulate the self-use and authorized use of intellectual property rights, and shall not infringe the intellectual property rights of others in the operation of blind boxes.

Encourage blind box operators to strengthen independent intellectual property innovation and development, and promote excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Article 21 Blind box goods or services shall not contain contents prohibited by laws and regulations such as distorting history, feudal superstition, obscenity and pornography, terrorist violence, religious extremism, ethnic discrimination, secession and other laws and regulations, as well as violating public order and good customs.

Blind box operators are not allowed to engage in gambling activities under the name of blind boxes or in disguised form.

Article 22 If a food business operator gives other blind box commodities to carry out promotional activities in the process of food sales and catering services, it shall abide by the relevant provisions of the the People's Republic of China Anti-Food Waste Law. Catering service operators shall not induce or mislead consumers into overordering.

Article 23 Blind box operators shall not sell blind boxes to minors under 8 years of age. The sale of blind box goods to minors aged 8 and above shall be confirmed in accordance with the law to have obtained the consent of the relevant guardian.

Blind box operators should prominently remind minors aged 8 and above to obtain the consent of their relevant guardians when purchasing blind boxes.

Blind box operators should take effective measures to prevent minors from becoming addicted, protect their physical and mental health, and provide convenience in resolving consumer disputes among minors.

Encourage local relevant departments to introduce protective measures and specifically regulate the sales model of blind boxes around primary school campuses, including distance and content.

Article 24 Encourage industry organizations related to blind box operations to strengthen industry self-discipline, formulate self-discipline guidelines, establish and improve third-party supervision mechanisms, and strengthen supervision of specific behaviors such as hidden money extraction, business publicity, commodity placement, and the quality of blind box products. Encourage and support enterprises and social organizations related to blind box operation to formulate scientific and reasonable enterprise standards and group standards.

Article 25 Encourage and support consumer associations and other social organizations prescribed by law to conduct social supervision in accordance with the law, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in blind box consumption.

Article 26 Where promotional activities are carried out in the form of blind boxes, they shall comply with the Interim Provisions on Regulating Promotional Behaviors and other provisions.

Article 27 Blind box operators shall comply with the relevant provisions and requirements of the competent departments of the industry, do a good job in operation management and standardize business behavior.

Article 28 Blind box operators who, in violation of laws and regulations, sell toxic and hazardous materials, flammable and explosive materials, live animals, express mail that cannot be delivered and cannot be returned, etc., shall be investigated and dealt with by the relevant departments in accordance with their duties.

Article 29 These Guidelines shall be interpreted by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration and shall be implemented as of the date of promulgation.