China to Clampdown on Wine Fraud & Profiteering

2012-06-26

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce recently issued a Standards document designed to legislate more effectively for the distribution & retail of wine.

Problems the document aims to address include; selling counterfeit product, harming the interests or health of consumers, false hype, misleading the consumer, lack of good faith & excess consumption.

'All levels of government and related departments attach great importance to this issue, have therefore issued a series of laws and regulations on alcohol production and management policies and systems, technical standards..'

Specific goals are:

Develop distribution integrity of the alcohol industry, to promote its orderly growth;
Equal protection of producers, operators and consumers' legitimate rights and interests - promote the rational consumption of alcoholic products. Advocate a culture of civilised drinking;
Prevention and fight against fake goods, strengthen self-regulation and introduce provenance and tracking systems. Protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, to ensure that in the market to buy genuine wine;
Promotion of alcoholic products, intellectual property and brand protection

Statistics show that China’s alcoholic drinks totaled 710.3 million hl in 2011 with output value of RMB 669.9 billion yuan and sales value of 648.9 billion yuan.