On January 10^th, 2017, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce printed and circulated the Notice on the Adjudication Standards for Administrative Penalties for Violation of the Advertising Law. The Adjudication Standards describe circumstances affecting the severity of administrative penalties for violation of the Advertising Law including exemptions, mitigated penalties, lighter penalties and heavier penalties.

  It is explicitly provided that obvious minor first-time violations of the Advertising Law such as, (i) an advertisement published via mass media that fails to identify itself as an “advertisement” but enables consumers to distinguish it as an advertisement or (ii) content cited in the advertisement is legitimate but the advertisement fails to indicate the original source of such content, will be exempted from penalties.

  The Adjudication Standards will be implemented on February 10^th, 2017 and will remain effective until June 30^th, 2020.

  For the full text of the Adjudication Standards, please visit:

  http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/nw2/nw2314/nw2319/nw41149/u83aw98.html

    Abstracted from www.sohu.com