II.Compliance Points of Advertising Content (Gener...
1.Obligations
(1) The obligation of indicating the specific content of the advertisement explicitly.According to Article 8 of the Advertising Law, where an advertisement indicates the performance, functions, place of origin, uses,quality, ingredients, price, producer, term of validity, and promises, etc.of the goods or the content, provider, form, quality, price, and promises, etc.of the services, such indication shall be accurate, clear, and understandable.Where an advertisement indicates that a gift is attached to the marketed goods or services, the variety, specification, quantity,term, and form of the gift goods or services shall be explicitly indicated.
(2) The obligation to obtain administrative licensing.Where the contents of an advertisement involve any matter subject to administrative licensing, it shall conform to the licensed content.For example, the Measures for the Administration of Medical Advertisements stipulates that before releasing medical advertisements, a medical institution shall apply for the examination of medical advertisements at the local provincial health administrative departments and obtain the Examination Certificate for Medical Advertisements.According to the Notice of the China Food and Drug Administration on Relevant Matters concerning the Examination of Advertisements on Functional Food issued by the China Food and Drug Administration (whose name has been changed to the State Administration for Market Regulation) on June 23, 2005, before being released,the advertisements on functional food shall be examined, and applicants for advertisements shall file the application with the relevant provincial food and drug administrative department in time.
(3) The obligation to indicate the citations and patents explicitly.According to Article 11 of the Advertising Law, the data, statistics, investigation results, excerpts, quotations, and other citations used in an advertisement shall be true and accurate, with the sources indicated.If any citation has a scope of application or a term of validity, the scope of application or term of validity shall be clearly indicated.
Where any patented product or patented method are concerned in the advertisements, the patent number and the patent type shall be indicated.According to Article 12 of the Advertising Law, an advertisement shall not falsely claim that a patent has been granted, if the patent has not been granted.An advertisement shall be prohibited from using a patent application before the patent is granted or using any expired, revoked, or invalidated patent.
(4) The obligation to make advertisements identif iable.According to Article 14 of the Advertising Law, an advertisement shall be identif iable so that consumers could identify it as an advertisement.Advertisements shall not be published in the disguised form of a news report on mass media.Any advertisement published on mass media shall be conspicuously indicated as an “advertisement” to distinguish it from other non-advertisement information and avoid misleading consumers.
Advertisements published on radio and television stations shall be in compliance with the provisions of the relevant departments of the State Council on length and methods, and the length of advertisements shall be clearly indicated.
2.False Advertisement(https://www.daowen.com)
Advertisements shall not involve any false or misleading content and shall not defraud or mislead consumers.According to Article 28 of the Advertising Law, any advertisement that defrauds or misleads consumers with any false or misleading content shall be a false advertisement.An advertisement that falls under any of the following circumstances shall be a false advertisement: (1) the advertised good or service does not exist;(2) regarding the good’s performance, functions, place of production,uses, quality, specification, ingredient, price, producer, term of validity,sales condition, and honors received, among others, or the service’s contents, provider, form, quality, price, sales condition, and honors received,among others, or any commitments, among others, made on the good or service, there is any inconsistency with the actual circumstances, which has a material impact on purchases; (3) any scientific research result, statistical data, investigation result, excerpt, quotation, or other information which is fabricated or forged or cannot be validated has been used as a certification material; (4) the results of using the good or receiving the service are fabricated; (5) consumers are otherwise defrauded or misled with any false or misleading content.
Chinese laws and regulatory authorities have imposed severe penalties for publishing false advertisements.The State Administration for Market Regulation and the local market regulation departments regularly publish typical cases of illegal false advertisements.Among them,many companies have been fined millions of yuan for publishing illegal false advertisements, and even been ordered to conduct deregistration.According to Article 55 of the Advertising Law, where a false advertisement is published, the administrative department for market regulation shall order cessation of publishing the advertisement, order the advertiser to eliminate adverse effects within the corresponding extent, and impose a fine of not less than three nor more than five times the advertising expenses on it or if the advertising expenses are incalculable or evidently low, a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 yuan nor more than RMB 1,000,000 yuan on it; or provided that the advertiser has committed three or more violations of law in the past two years or falls under any other serious circumstance, impose a fine of not less than five nor more than ten times the advertising expenses on it or if the advertising expenses are incalculable or evidently low, a fine of not less than RMB 1,000,000 yuan one million yuan nor more than RMB 2,000,000 yuan on it.If there is any serious circumstance, its business license may be revoked, and the advertisement censoring authority shall revoke the advertisement censorship approval document and decline to accept the advertiser’s advertisement censorship application within one year.
3.Prohibited Situations
Advertisements shall not disparage the goods or services of any other producer or trader, and shall not harm the physical and mental health of the minors and the disabled persons.In addition, according to Article 9 of the Advertising Law, the general prohibited situations are also stipulated, including but not limited to: (1) using, or using in a disguised form, the national flag, national anthem, national emblem, military flag, military song, or military emblem of the People’s Republic of China; (2) using, or using in a disguised form, the name or image of any state authority or its staff member; (3) using “national” “highest” “best”or similar comparative words; (4) damaging the dignity or interest of the state or divulging any state secret; (5) disturbing social stability or damaging the public interest; (6) damaging personal or property safety or divulging individual privacy; (7) disturbing the public order or departing from a good social climate; (8) containing any obscene,pornographic, gambling, superstitious, horrible, or violent content;(9) containing any ethnically, racially, religiously, or sexually discriminatory content; (10) impeding the protection of environment, natural resources, or cultural heritages.
Internet advertising, in addition to complying with the provisions regulated for general advertising, has other special provisions.For example, According to Article 16 of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, it is forbidden to use the Internet to publish advertisements for prescription drugs or tobacco.For another example,in the process of publishing Internet advertisements, it is prohibited to:(1) provide or use an application program, or hardware, etc.to intercept,filter, override, fast forward, or impose other restraining measures on an advertisement lawfully run by any other person; (2) use Internet access,Internet devices, or application program, etc.to sabotage the regular advertising data transmission, tamper with or shield an advertisement lawfully run by any other person, or carry an advertisement without authorization; (3) use false statistical data, dissemination effect, or Internet media value to induce an erroneous offer for illegitimate benefits or damage to the interests of any other person.
4.Other Requirements
There are many detailed regulations in the Advertising Law that may be unintentionally.ignored, such as some special regulations for audiences who are minors, and special regulations for outdoor advertising:outdoor advertisement shall be prohibited if it (1) uses any traffic safety facility or traffic sign; (2) affects the use of any municipal public facility,traffic safety facility, traffic sign, fire protection facility, or fire safety mark;(3) obstructs production or people’s life or damages the city image; (4) is placed in construction-controlled zones where state authorities, protected cultural relics entities, and scenic spots are located or in areas prohibited by local people’s governments at or above the county level from placement of outdoor advertisements.