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(Adopted
at the Tenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National
People's Congress, promulgated by Order No.34 of the President of
the People's Republic of China on October 27, 1994, and effective
as of February 1, 1995.)
Chapter
I General Provisions
Article
1 This law is formulated in order to regulate advertising activities,
promote the healthy development of the advertising sector, protect
the lawful rights and interests of consumers, maintain the social
and economic order, and let advertisements play an active role in
socialist market economy.
Article
2 Advertisers, advertising operators and advertisement publishers,
when engaging in advertising activities within the territory of
the People's Republic of China, shall abide by this law.
"Advertisement"
as the term is used in this Law refers to any commercial advertisement,
which a commodity operator or service provider pays for, through
certain media or forms, directly or indirectly introducing their
commodities being sold or services being provided.
"Advertiser"
as the term is used in this Law refers to any legal person, other
economic organization or individual, who, with the purpose of promoting
the sales of commodities or providing services, is to design, produce
and publish advertisements by itself or through commissioning others.
"Advertising
operator" as the term is used in this Law refers to any legal
person, other economic organization or individual, who is commissioned
to provide advertisement designing, producing and agent services.
"Advertisement
publisher" as the term is used in this Law refers to any legal
person or other economic organization which publishes advertisements
for advertisers or advertising operators commissioned by advertisers.
Article
3 An advertisement shall be true to facts, lawful, and in compliance
with the requirements of raising socialist cultural and ideological
progress.
Article
4 An advertisement may not contain any false and deceiving information,
and may not cheat or misguide consumers.
Article
5 Advertisers, advertising operators and advertisement publishers
shall, when engaging in advertising activities, abide by laws and
administrative regulations and adhere to the principles of fairness
and trustworthiness.
Article
6 The administration for industry and commerce of the people's governments
at or above the county level are advertising supervision and control
organs.
Chapter
II Requirements of Advertising
Article
7 The contents of advertisements shall be conducive to the physical
and mental health of the people, promote the improvement in quality
of commodity and service, protect the lawful rights and interests
of consumers, be in compliance with social morality and professional
ethics, and safeguard the dignity and interests of the state.
Advertisements
may not contain any of the following circumstances:
1.
using the national flag, national emblem and national anthem of
the People's Republic of China;
2.
using the names of state organs or names of staff of state organs;
3.
using such words as the state-level, the highest-level or the best;
4.
hindering social stability or endangering the safety of life or
property, or harming the social public interests;
5.
hindering the social public order or violating the good social customs;
6.
carrying any pornographic, superstitious, horrible, violent or ugly
information;
7.
carrying any nationality, racial, religious or sex discriminating
information;
8.
hindering environmental and natural resources protection; and
9.
other circumstances that are prohibited by laws and administrative
regulations.
Article
8 Advertisements may not impair the physical and mental health of
the minors and the disabled.
Article
9 Statements in advertisements on commodity's performance, origin
of production, use, quality, price, producer and manufacturer, valid
term, and promise, and service's items, manner, quality, price and
promise shall be clear and explicit.
An
advertisement, in which gifts are indicated to be presented in promoting
the sales of commodities or providing services, shall state the
type and quantity of gifts as compliments.
Article
10 Data, statistical information, investigation and survey findings,
digest and quotes used in an advertisement shall be true to facts
and accurate, and their sources shall be indicated.
Article
11 An advertisement involving patented products or patent methods
shall clearly indicate the patent number and the type of patent.
The
unpatented may not pretend to be patented in advertisements.
The
use of ungranted patent applications or terminated, nullified or
invalid patents to advertise is prohibited.
Article
12 An advertisement may not belittle the commodities or services
of other producers and manufacturers or operators.
Article
13 An advertisement shall be distinguishable, and enable consumers
to identify it is an advertisement.
The
mass media may not publish advertisements in the form of news report.
Advertisements published through the mass media shall bear advertisement
marks to differentiate them from other nonadvertisement information
and may not lead to the misunderstanding of consumers.
Article
14 Advertisements for pharmaceuticals, medical apparatus and instruments
may not contain the following contents:
1.
unscientific affirmations, statements or promises on efficacy;
2.
indication of the cure rate or efficacious rate;
3.
comparison of efficacy and safeness with other medicines, medical
apparatus and instruments;
4.
use of the name or image of medical research unit, academic organization,
medical unit or expert, doctor or patient as proofs; and
5.
other contents that are prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.
Article
15 The contents of advertisements for pharmaceuticals must take
as the standards the instructions approved by the public health
administrative department under the State Council or public health
administrative departments of provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the Central Government.
Advertisements
for therapeutic pharmaceuticals which, as provided by the state,
shall be used under physician's advice must be marked "purchase
and use on physician's prescription".
Article
16 Special pharmaceuticals such as anaesthetic, narcotic, psychotropic,
toxic and radioactive drugs may not appear in advertisements.
Article
17 Advertisements for agricultural chemicals may not contain the
following contents:
1.
absolute affirmations indicating its safeness such as non-toxic
or non-harm;
2.
unscientific affirmations or promises indicating its effectiveness;
3.
words, languages or pictures that violate the safe use regulations
of agricultural chemicals; and
4.
other contents that are prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.
Article
18 Publishing of advertisements for tobacco by means of radio, cinema
pictures, television, newspaper, magazine or periodical is prohibited.
Erecting
or placing advertisements for tobacco at public places such as various
waiting rooms, cinemas and theatres, conference halls and sports
stadiums and gymnasiums is prohibited.
Advertisements
for tobacco must be marked with "smoking is harmful to your
health".
Article
19 The contents of advertisements for foods, alcohol drinks or cosmetics
must comply with matters and items of hygiene license, and may not
use medical jargons or words which are easily to be mixed up with
pharmaceuticals.
Chapter
III Advertising Activities
Article
20 Advertisers, advertising operators and advertisement publishers
shall sign written contracts according to law in their advertising
activities, stipulating explicitly each party's rights and obligations.
Article
21 No advertiser, advertising operator or advertisement publisher
may engage in unfair competition of any form in their advertising
activities.
Article
22 An advertiser, in designing, producing or publishing advertisements
either by itself or through committing others to promote the sales
of commodities or to provide services shall comply with its business
scope.
Article
23 An advertiser shall, in commissioning to design, produce and
publish advertisements, commission an advertising operator or advertisement
publisher with legal business status.
Article
24 An advertiser shall, in designing, producing and publishing advertisements
either by itself or through commissioning others, has or provide
true, lawful and valid documentation as follows:
1.
business license and other papers and documents proving production
and operation qualification;
2.
documents and papers issued by quality certification organs for
the content of commodity quality to be advertised;
3.
other documents and papers to confirm the truthfulness of the content
of advertisement.
Where,
pursuant to the provisions of Article 34 of this Law, publishing
of an advertisement is subject to examination by relevant administrative
departments, relevant documents and papers of approval shall also
be provided.
Article
25 Any advertiser or advertising operator shall, if using the names
or images of others in advertising, obtain in advance the written
consent of others; and if using the names or images of persons with
incapacity for civil actions or with limited capacity for civil
actions, obtain in advance the written consent from their guardians.
Article
26 Those engaging in the advertising business shall have the required
professional and technical personnel and production equipment, and
undergo company or advertising business registration in accordance
with law, before they may engage themselves in advertising activities.
The
advertising business of radio stations, television stations, newspaper
or magazine and periodical publishing units shall be handled by
their own departments specializing in advertising business, and
registration for concurrent advertising business shall be made according
to law.
Article
27 Advertising operators and advertisement publishers are to check
relevant documentation and to examine and verify the contents of
advertisements in accordance with laws and administrative regulations.
With respect to an advertisement with untrue content or without
the required complete documentation, any advertising operator may
not provide services on designing, producing and serving as agent
and any advertisement publisher may not publish such advertisement.
Article
28 Advertising operators and advertisement publishers, according
to relevant state regulations, are to establish and perfect the
system on acceptance registration, examination and verification,
and record management of their advertisement businesses.
Article
29 Advertising charges shall be reasonable and open to the public,
the charging standards and measures shall be registered with the
administrative departments in charge of price and industry and commerce
for record.
Advertising
operators and advertisement publishers shall make public their charging
standards and measures.
Article
30 Advertisement publishers shall provide true information on media
coverage, audience rate and circulation to advertisers and advertising
operators.
Article
31 With respect to those commodities or services prohibited by laws
and administrative regulations to be produced and manufactured,
marketed or provided, and with respect to the commodities or services
prohibited to be advertised, advertisements may not be designed,
produced and published.
Article
32 No outdoor advertisement may be erected or placed under any of
the following circumstances:
1.
using traffic safety facilities or traffic signs and marks;
2.
affecting or interrupting the use of public utility facilities,
traffic safety facilities or traffic signs and marks;
3.
hindering the production or people's living or damaging the appearance
or environment of cities;
4.
within the construction control areas of state organs, cultural
relics protection units or scenic sites; and
5.
within the areas prohibited to erect or place outdoor advertisements
by the people's governments at or above the county level.
Article
33 The people's governments at or above the county level are, by
organizing relevant departments such as advertising supervision
and control, urban construction, environmental protection and public
security, to work out planning and measures for the control of erecting
and placing outdoor advertisements.
Chapter
IV Advertisement Examination
Article
34 With respect to advertisements for such commodities as pharmaceuticals,
medical apparatus and instruments, agricultural chemicals or veterinary
drugs, which are published by means of radio, cinema pictures, television,
newspaper, magazine, periodical and other media, and other advertisements
which, as provided by laws and administrative regulations, shall
be subject to examination, the relevant administrative departments
(hereinafter referred to as the advertisement examination organ)
must examine and inspect, prior to their issuance, the contents
of the advertisements in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative
regulations; any such advertisement which is not examined and approved
may not be published.
Article
35 An advertiser shall, when applying for advertisement examination,
submit relevant documentation to the advertisement examination organ
according to laws and administrative regulations. The advertisement
examination organ shall, pursuant to laws and administrative regulations,
make an examination decision.
Article
36 No unit or individual may counterfeit, alter and transfer the
document of advertisement examination decision.
Chapter
V Legal Responsibility
Article
37 Where, in violation of the provisions of this Law, false and
deceiving publicity on commodity or service is made by using an
advertisement, the advertising supervision and control organ shall
order the advertiser to stop publishing the advertisement and to
use the same amount of its advertising expenses to make open correction
and to clear up influence within the same area, and impose the advertiser
a fine of more than the amount of its advertising charges and less
than five times the amount of its advertising charges; confiscate
the advertising charges of the advertising operator responsible
and advertisement publisher responsible and impose them a line of
more than the amount of the advertising charges and less than five
times the amount of the advertising charges; and if the case is
serious, prevent them, according to law, from the advertising businesses.
Where the act constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall
be investigated according to law.
Article
38 Where, in violation of the provisions of this Law, publishing
of a false and deceiving advertisement cheats and misguides consumers,
and thus causes infringement and damage to the lawful rights and
interests of consumers who buy the commodity or accept the service,
the advertiser shall bear civil responsibility according to law,
the advertising operator and advertisement publisher, who know or
are to know that the advertisement is untrue to facts but continue
to design, produce and publish it, shall bear joint responsibility
according to law.
The
advertising operator or advertisement publisher, who fails to provide
the real name and address of the advertiser, shall bear complete
civil responsibility.
A
social organization or other organizations, which recommends commodity
or service to consumers in a false and deceiving advertisement and
consequently causes infringement and damage to the lawful rights
and interests of consumers, shall bear joint responsibility.
Article
39 Where publishing of an advertisement violates the provisions
of Article 7, Paragraph 2 of this Law, the advertising supervision
and control organ shall order the advertiser, advertising operator
and advertisement publisher, which are responsible to the advertisement,
to stop publishing the advertisement and to make open corrections,
confiscate their advertising charges, and impose a fine of more
than the amount of the advertising charges and less than five times
the amount of the advertising charges; and if the case is serious,
prevent them, according to law, from the advertising businesses.
Where the act constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall
be investigated according to law.
Article
40 Where publishing of an advertisement violates the provisions
of Article 9 to Article 12 of this Law, the advertising supervision
and control organ shall order the advertiser, advertising operator
and advertisement publisher, which are responsible to the advertisement,
to stop publishing the advertisement and to make open corrections,
confiscate their advertising charges, and may impose a fine of more
than the amount of the advertising charges and less than five times
the amount of the advertising charges.
Where
publishing of an advertisement violates the provisions of Article
13 of this Law, the advertising supervision and control organ shall
order the advertisement publisher to make correction, and impose
a fine of more than 1,000 Yuan and less than 10,000 Yuan.
Article
41 Where, in violation of the provisions of Article 14 to Article
17 and Article 19 of this Law, an advertisement for pharmaceuticals,
medical apparatus and instruments, agricultural chemicals, foods,
alcoholic drinks or cosmetics is published, or, in violation of
the provisions of Article 31 of this Law, an advertisement is published,
the advertising supervision and control organ shall order the advertiser,
advertising operator and advertisement publisher, which are responsible
to the advertisement, to make corrections or to stop publishing
the advertisement, confiscate their advertising charges, and may
also impose a fine of more than the amount of the advertising charges
and less than five times the amount of the advertising charges;
and if the case is serious, prevent them, according to law, from
the advertising businesses.
Article
42 Where, in violation of the provisions of Article 18 of this Law,
an advertisement for tobacco is published by means of radio, cinema
pictures, television, newspaper, magazine or periodical, or an advertisement
for tobacco is erected and placed in the public places and sites,
the advertising supervision and control organ shall order the advertiser,
advertising operator and advertisement publisher, which are responsible
to the advertisement, to stop publishing the advertisement, confiscate
their advertising charges, and may impose a fine of more than the
amount of the advertising charges and less than five times the amount
of the advertising charges.
Article
43 Where, in violation of the provisions of Article 34 of this Law,
publishing of an advertisement without examination and approval
from the advertisement examination organ, the advertising supervision
and control organ shall order the advertiser, advertising operator
and advertisement publisher, which are responsible to the advertisement,
to stop publishing the advertisement, confiscate their advertising
charges, and impose a fine of more than the amount of the advertising
charges and less than five times the amount of the advertising charges.
Article
44 Where an advertiser furnishes false and deceiving documentation,
the advertising supervision and control organ shall impose a fine
of more than 10,000 Yuan and less than 100,000 Yuan.
Where
anyone counterfeits, alters or transfers documents of an advertisement
examination decision, the advertising supervision and control organ
shall confiscate its illegal gains and impose a fine of more than
10,000 Yuan and less than 100,000 Yuan. Where the act constitutes
a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according
to law.
Article
45 Where an advertisement examination organ has made an examination
and approval decision for illegal content of an advertisement, the
person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible
shall be subject to administrative penalties imposed by their units,
superior organs or administrative supervisory departments according
to law.
Article
46 Any person of an advertising supervision and control organ or
advertisement examination organ, who neglects his or her duty, abuses
his or her power of office or practises favouritism or other irregularities,
shall be subject to administrative penalties. Where his or her act
constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated
according to law.
Article
47 An advertiser, advertising operator or advertisement publisher,
who, in violation of the provisions of this Law, commits any of
the following right-infringing acts, shall bear civil responsibility
according to law.
1.
impairing in advertising the physical and mental health of the minors
or the disabled;
2.
palming off as a patent of others;
3.
belittling commodities or services of other producers and manufacturers
or operators;
4.
using the names and images of others without consent in advertising;
or
5.
other infringements of the lawful civil rights and interests of
others.
Article
48 A party concerned which disagrees with an administrative penalty
decision may, within fifteen days from the date of receiving notice
of the penalty decision, apply for a reconsideration to the next
higher organ of the organ which makes the administrative penalty
decision; the party may, within fifteen days from the date of receiving
notice of the penalty decision, also directly file a suit in a people's
court.
The
reconsideration organ shall, within sixty days from the date of
receiving the application for reconsideration, make a reconsideration
decision. A party concerned which disagrees with the reconsideration
decision may, within fifteen days from the date of receiving the
reconsideration decision, file a suit in a people's court. lf the
reconsideration organ fails to make a reconsideration decision within
the time limit for reconsideration, the party concerned may, within
fifteen days from the expiration of the reconsideration, file a
suit in a people's court.
In
the event of a party concerned failing both to apply for a reconsideration
or to file a suit in a people's court within the time limit, and
to comply with a penalty decision, the organ which makes the penalty
decision may apply to a people's court for enforcement.
Chapter
VI Supplementary Provisions
Article
49 This Law shall come into force as of February 1, 1995. lf any
content related to advertising in other laws and regulations formulated
prior to the implementation of this Law is inconsistent with this
Law, this Law shall prevail.
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