How to apply for food business licenses for e-commerce and micro-businessmen

The E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China was officially implemented

1.

Article 9 of the E-Commerce Law clarifies that e-commerce operators refer to natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations engaged in business activities of selling goods or providing services through the Internet and other information networks, including e-commerce platform operators, business operators within the platform, and e-commerce operators who sell goods or provide services through self-built websites

2.

Rules:

(1) Article 10 of the E-commerce Law provides that e-commerce operators shall handle the registration

Article 12 provides that where e-commerce operators engaged in business activities need to obtain relevant administrative licenses in accordance with law, they shall obtain administrative licenses

(2) Article 62 of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China provides that third-party platform providers for online food trading shall conduct real-name registration of online food business operators, clarifying their food safety management responsibilities; Where a permit should be obtained in accordance with law, its license shall also be examined

(3) The importance of food business licenses: (1) On September 27, 2018, the State Council issued the "Notice on Promoting the Reform of "Separation of Licenses and Licenses" nationwide", which included food business licenses in the "first batch of specific matters for the reform of 'separation of licenses and licenses' in the whole country", and the implementing organs were the food and drug supervision and administration departments (market supervision departments) of local people's governments at or above the county level, and the reform method was to optimize access services, and there were 5 reform measures: First, to promote online business handling; The second is to compress the approval time limit and reduce the statutory approval time limit by one-third; The third is to streamline the examination and approval materials, and obtain materials such as verifying business licenses and identity certificates of legal representatives or responsible persons online; The fourth is to publicize the approval procedures, acceptance conditions and handling standards, and disclose the progress of handling; The fifth is to promote the application of information sharing between departments and strengthen supervision

3.

Not necessarily

Relevant provisions: (1) Article 2 of the E-commerce Law stipulates that "e-commerce" as used in this Law refers to the business activities of selling goods or providing services through the Internet and other information networks

5 exceptions to the E-Commerce Law: individuals selling homegrown agricultural and sideline products (selling their own eggs, etc.

(2) Reply of the General Office of the State Food and Drug Administration on clarifying the issues related to food business licenses (first license and then certificate) (Food and Drug Administration Office Food Supervision Letter [2016] No.

4.

Not all online stores can engage in online food sales and online ordering, and they need to have the business conditions of online food sales and online ordering before they can apply for a food business license

Rules:

(1) Paragraphs

(2) Article 11 of the General Principles for the Review of Food Business Licenses (effective as of October 1, 2015) stipulates that where a food business operator engages in food business through the Internet while operating in a physical store, in addition to the above conditions, it shall also provide the licensing authority with facilities and equipment that can log on to the applicant's website, webpage or online store on the spot for review
by the licensing authority 。 Article 12 stipulates that Internet food business operators without physical stores shall have fixed food business sites that are compatible with the variety and quantity of food they operate, and the storage sites shall be regarded as food business sites, and shall provide the licensing authorities with facilities and equipment that can log on to the applicant's website, webpage or online store on the spot for review
by the licensing authorities.
Internet food business operators without physical stores must not apply for all food production and sales items and bulk cooked food sales
.

(3) Non-food business operators' acts of giving away food through APPS, self-made Mini Programs, or other online platforms do not require a food business license
.
The Reply of the State Food and Drug Administration on the Qualitative Issues of Non-Food Business Operators' Gifting of Food (Food and Drug Administration Letter [2016] No.
594, August 9, 2016) clarifies that non-food business operators such as banks and property companies do not need to obtain a food business license
for non-food business operators to purchase edible oil, rice and other food gifts to customers.

(4) Article 16 of the Measures for the Investigation and Handling of Illegal Acts of Online Food Safety (Order No.
27 of the State Food and Drug Administration, effective as of October 1, 2016) stipulates that food producers and traders entering the network shall obtain a license in accordance with law, food producers entering the network shall sell food in accordance with the scope of the category of the license, and food business operators entering the network shall engage in food business in accordance with the scope of the licensed business items
.
Except where
laws and regulations stipulate that it is not necessary to obtain a food production and operation license.

Food producers who have obtained a food production license do not need to obtain a food business license
to sell the food they produce through the Internet.
Food business operators who have obtained a food business license sell their food made and processed through the Internet and do not need to obtain a food production license
.

Article 18 stipulates that food producers and traders who trade through third-party platforms shall publish their food production and operation licenses
in a conspicuous position on the main page of their business activities.
Food producers and traders who trade through self-built websites shall publicize their business licenses and food production and operation licenses
in a conspicuous position on the home page of their websites.

Catering service providers shall also simultaneously publish information on the quantitative and hierarchical management of food safety supervision of their catering services
.
The relevant information should be clear and easy to identify
.

Article 19 stipulates that food producers and traders who enter the network to sell health foods, formula foods for special medical purposes, and infant formula milk powder, in addition to publicizing relevant information in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of these Measures, shall also publicize the product registration certificate or filing certificate in accordance with the law, and those holding the advertising review approval number shall also publicize the advertising review approval document number, and link to the corresponding data query page
of the food and drug supervision and administration department's website.
Health food should also be conspicuously marked "this product can not replace the drug"
.

Specific whole-nutrient formulas in formula foods for special medical purposes are not allowed to be traded
online.

(5) Reply of the General Office of the State Food and Drug Administration on the Issue of Food service Providers Selling Bulk Cooked Food in Vacuum Form Online (Food Supervision Letter OFC NO.
2 [2017] No.
492, 2017.
7.
17)

Article 62 of the Implementing Regulations of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that "catering services refer to service activities that provide food and consumption places and facilities to consumers through immediate production and processing, commercial sales and service labor"
.
Article 33 of the Code of Practice for Food Safety in Catering Services clearly stipulates the temperature and time requirements for the storage and transportation of cooked food, and even if cooked food is stored and transported under refrigerated conditions, the interval from cooking to consumption shall not exceed 24 hours
.
The licensing conditions and processing requirements for the production and sale of cooked meat by catering service providers are very different from
the licensing conditions and production requirements for food producers to process "hot-processed cooked meat products".

Food service providers selling food such as bulk cooked food in vacuum form in different places on the network, the temperature and time of storage and transportation of cooked food are difficult to comply with the regulations, there is a greater food safety risk, and should be prohibited (except for those who hold food production licenses).

(6) Paragraph 2 of the Opinions on Improving the Quality and Safety Level of the Catering Industry (Food Safety Office [2017] No.
31, 2017.
9.
21) of 14 departments including the Food Safety Office of the State Council stipulates that the level of food safety supervision of
catering services shall be comprehensively improved.
(8) Strict management of catering and food business licenses
.
Focus on strengthening the review and on-site verification of food safety management institutions and personnel, food safety management systems, facility and equipment layout, cleaning and disinfection, refrigeration and freezing, etc.
, assess food safety management personnel, and issue food business licenses
to those who meet the conditions.
Strengthen the management of permits or filing registrations for small catering, small dining tables, and family meals in accordance with laws and regulations, and achieve full coverage
of catering industry license management.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(10) Strengthen supervision
of online catering services.
Strictly implement the food safety management responsibilities of catering service providers on online third-party platforms and self-built websites, ensure that online catering service providers have physical stores and food business licenses, ensure that public dishes and information are true, processed dishes are standardized and safe, food containers and tableware are clean and non-toxic, food is not contaminated during the distribution process, and consumer complaints are handled
in a timely manner.
Strengthen supervision and inspection of online catering services and online monitoring, and strictly investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations
.

(7) Article 4 of the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Safety in Online Catering Services, which came into effect on 1 January 2018, stipulates that online catering service providers shall have physical stores and obtain a food business license in accordance with law, and engage in business activities in accordance with the main business formats and business items specified in the food business license, and shall not exceed the scope of operation
.
Article 5 provides that where a third-party platform provider of online catering services establishes a branch office engaged in online catering services, it shall file a record
with the local county-level food and drug supervision and administration department within 30 working days of its establishment.
The content of the filing includes the name and address of the branch office, the name of the legal representative or responsible person, etc
.

5.
Do food cross-border e-commerce enterprises need to apply for a food business license to open a display (experience) store offline?

The Reply of the General Office of the State Food and Drug Administration on Regulatory Issues Concerning the Supervision of Food Cross-border E-commerce Enterprises (Food supervision letter of the Food and Drug Administration [2016] No.
630, 2016.
8.
29) clarifies that first, food cross-border e-commerce enterprises that open display (experience) stores offline, but do not actually sell food, do not need to apply for a Food Business License
.
However, the display (experience) store shall set up a notice board at its business premises to remind consumers not to sell food
on the spot.
Second, food cross-border e-commerce enterprises open exhibition (experience) stores offline, but actually have sales behavior, they need to apply for a "Food Business License" in accordance with the regulations, and the food sold must comply with the provisions of food safety laws and regulations and food safety standards
.

6.
If a business operator who has already applied for a food business license wants to engage in e-commerce business, does he need to re-apply for or apply for a food business license?

Where e-commerce operators engaged in online sales of food or online ordering of food shall go through the registration of market entities in accordance with the law and have already registered as market entities in accordance with the provisions of the current laws and regulations and have obtained a business license and a food business license, they may carry out business activities online and offline in accordance with the law on the basis of their business licenses and food business licenses, and shall continue to publish business license information and food business license information related to their business operations in a conspicuous position on their home page in accordance with the provisions of the "E-commerce Law"
。

Entities engaged in food sales operators and catering service operators, who are ready to engage in online operations and online ordering, must provide the network business address to change
the food business license in accordance with law.
For those engaged in business activities on more than one e-commerce platform, it is necessary to register (license)
multiple network business sites in which they are engaged in business activities with the registration authorities.

7.
What form of market entity should e-commerce operators register (license)?

E-commerce business activities shall comply with the general provisions of China's laws on business activities, and follow the basic principles of online and offline consistency in handling the registration
of market entities.
E-commerce operators may, on the basis of their actual situation, apply for registration as market entities of the type such as enterprises, individual industrial and commercial households, or farmers' professional cooperatives, and shall apply to the local market supervision and management departments for registration of market entities in accordance with the procedures and materials of the relevant provisions on the registration and management of
market entities in the current situation.
The food business license market entity shall be consistent
with the business license registration entity.

8.
Does the business license and food business license must be domestic, and can it be foreign?

Stores operating in China must apply for a domestic business license and a food business license
.

9.
If I do not have an offline business premises, can I use the website of the online store to register?

According to the Opinions of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Doing a Good Job in registering e-commerce Operators issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, business operators are allowed to use the online business premises provided by e-commerce platforms provided by article 9 of the E-commerce Law to apply for registration
as business premises.
At present, only individual industrial and commercial households are allowed to use network business premises to register, and enterprises and farmers' professional cooperatives are still registered
in accordance with existing regulations.
According to regulations, individual industrial and commercial households registered with online business premises as business premises can only carry out business activities through the Internet, and may not change the use of their residential housing for offline production and business activities without authorization, and shall make relevant commitments
.

At present, engaged in online food sales and online ordering, due to the many restrictive (prohibited) provisions of the food business license, there is no offline business place, must be in accordance with the relevant provisions, meet the licensing conditions, in order to apply for food business licenses in accordance with the law, see the fourth point "personal online stores engaged in food sales, online ordering prohibited (restrictive) provisions
.
" ”

10.
Where should I go to register (license) to apply for the registration of e-commerce operators?

Where an application is made to establish an individual industrial and commercial household with an offline address as the place of business, the market supervision and administration bureau (office) where the applicant's business premises are located shall be the registration authority (handling agency)
of the individual industrial and commercial household.

Where an application is made to establish an individual industrial and commercial household with the network business premises as the business premises, and the applicant is a person of the municipality, the registration jurisdiction shall be determined by the location of the address indicated on the id card; Personnel from other provinces and cities shall determine the registration jurisdiction based on the address of the place of residence specified on the Shanghai Municipal Residence Permit; Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents shall determine the jurisdiction
of registration by the place of residence specified on the residence permit of Hong Kong and Macao residents and the residence permit of Taiwan residents.

11.
Self-employed persons engaged in e-commerce, how should the business premises be registered (licensed)?

Where individual industrial and commercial households engage in production and business activities online and offline at the same time, they shall register
with the address of the offline entity's business premises as the business premises.

Where individual industrial and commercial households carry out business activities only through the Internet, they are allowed to register (license)
the network business premises as business premises.
For those engaged in business activities on more than one e-commerce platform, it is necessary to register (license)
multiple network business sites in which they are engaged in business activities with the registration authorities.

12.
What materials should be submitted when applying for the registration of individual industrial and commercial households using online business premises?

The applicant submits to the registration authority the "Application for Registration of Individual Industrial and Commercial Households", the applicant's identity certificate, and the proof of use of the online business premises (obtained and printed from the e-commerce platform by himself) and other materials for registration
.

The applicant should fill in the "Application for Registration of Individual Industrial and Commercial Households" and make a commitment, that is, "I promise to carry out business activities only through the Internet, and not to change the use of residential housing for offline production and business activities without authorization"
.
(Judging from the content of the commitment, the commitment only applies to the business license, not to the food business license.

) )

13.
What is the proof of use of the network business premises? How do I get it?

Proof of use of the online business premises is issued by an e-commerce platform that provides the business operators with an online business premises, and where it contains basic information such as the business operator's name, ID card number, website address of the online business premises, and other basic information, it shows that the applicant has lawfully used the online business premises
.
Platform operators will cooperate with market supervision and management departments to facilitate
the registration of business operators who should handle the registration of market entities in light of the characteristics of e-commerce.

How to obtain the proof of each e-commerce platform? Here is an example:

Pinduoduo

Stores operating on Pinduoduo need to apply for proof
at the merchant background of Pinduoduo's website.

After logging in the background, the webpage will pop up "Pinduoduo Platform Cooperation Agreement", click "I have read and agree to the agreement", and the previously clicked will not be repeated
.

The webpage will enter the Pinduoduo homepage, at which point the system will automatically pop up the "Business License Registration Attempt Selection Notice" and click "Download Store Opening Certificate"
.

The webpage automatically pops up "Instructions for Opening a Store", click "Download Proof of Opening a Store" on this interface
.

If you missed the pop-up prompt, you can also find this feature
on the qualification information page.

The following figure is a screenshot of the business license of the registered e-commerce operator of the Pinduoduo platform

Micro shop

Shops operating on The WeShop need to apply for a certificate
on the WeChat website.

Enter the WeChat website: the "I am a seller" column of the "Help Center", you can find "E-commerce Law Introduced, How to Operate In Compliance?" This is a problem
.

After entering this guide, drop-down page, you can see the following figure prompt, click to log in to the merchant account, after real-name authentication, you can issue a certificate
.

The following figure shows an example of the "Micro Store Platform Store Operation Certificate" issued by Weidian

、

The following figure shows a screenshot of the business license of the registered micro-store platform e-commerce operator

Taobao

Since the third week of 2019, Taobao has finally given a channel to obtain a certificate of network business premises, and the registration assistant hastened to introduce it
.

Taobao sellers log in to their seller account and enter the merchant version of
the Taobao service center.

Search for a question in the search box: What should I do if I ask Taobao to provide proof of store?

The first place in the search results list is this problem, Taobao gave a channel
for issuing a certificate of online business premises.

https://openshop.
taobao.
com/tools/certificate.
htm#/

The link is here, you can download the proof directly, if the mobile phone is inconvenient, it is best to download
it with a computer.

If there is no problem with the account, you will come to the following webpage and click generate file to download it
.

Tmall

If you want to open a store on Tmall by using the "online business premises certificate", you don't have to think about it, Tmall is a B2C e-commerce platform
.
B2C is the abbreviation of business-to-customer (business to customer), which is that the merchant provides retail services
directly to the customer online.

At present, to enter Tmall's stores, they must be enterprises with industrial and commercial registration, and they can only operate with the business license registered by the entity, while the current registration using the "network business premise certificate" is limited to individual industrial and commercial households
.

14.
What should I do if I can't publicize my business license and food business license on WeChat Circle of Friends and Weibo?

At present, social platforms such as WeChat Circle of Friends and Weibo do not provide proof of network business premises, so they do not have the conditions
for registration (license) to operate.
It is recommended that you can enter third-party platforms such as micro-stores and open online stores through the platform to display business licenses and food business licenses
.
WeChat and Weibo hair circles only do promotional advertisements, leaving online store product links to
jump to buy.

15.
How to apply for a food business license for online consignment sales? (Selling food online, using a manufacturer to send one piece, there is no food in the physical store, can I apply for a license in this case?)

(1) No license is required, and the distributor only needs to display the food production license of the consignee on the webpage
.
If the consignment catering service operator has obtained a food business license, the food business license
of the consignee should be displayed on the webpage.
Otherwise, it is considered to be unlicensed operation
.
(2) Not at this time
.
There is no food in the physical store or storage place, it is impossible to trace the source, it is impossible to claim evidence and tickets, and it cannot be included in the food safety sampling plan, and the safety risk is high
.

16.
Is it possible for individual online stores to sell goods that are inconsistent with the business scope of business licenses and food business licenses?

If the business scope of the business is inconsistent with the business scope of the online store, the owner of the shop who already has a business license and a food business license needs to go through the change
.
For those who engage in production and business activities online and offline at the same time, their business scope shall be the sum of the scope of online and
offline business activities.
For those who use online business premises to apply for the establishment of individual industrial and commercial households, the business scope of their business licenses should be marked "(limited to engaging in business activities through the Internet)"
.

17.
Do e-commerce operators have to operate with a bright light (bright certificate)?

According to the provisions of the E-commerce Law, e-commerce operators with business licenses shall continuously publish business license information, administrative licensing information related to their business operations, or link identification
of the above-mentioned information in a conspicuous position on their home page.

Business operators who do not need to go through the registration of market entities in accordance with the law also need to indicate in a conspicuous position on the home page that they belong to information such as the situation that they do not need to register as a market entity in accordance with Article 10 of the E-commerce Law, or the link identification of
the above information.
Where information changes, e-commerce operators shall promptly update the publicity information
.

If the business license information is publicized by providing a link, it must be a valid link, and clicking on the relevant link can directly jump to the network page
containing the business license information.

Hope the above is helpful to you! Disclaimer: The author of this article is He Xiaoying, Market Supervision Bureau of Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and the content is from: Legal Reading Online