Supervision of food delivery O2O: How many “relevant departments” are there?

What does 28,000 yuan mean?

For an individual, it may be a senior white-collar worker's monthly salary; for a company, it may be less than a day's income from corporate asset management.

In fact, "28,000 yuan" is the amount of the first "fine" in the online food ordering industry. Recently, the Hangzhou Market Supervision Bureau imposed an administrative penalty of 28,000 yuan on Meituan Waimai.com for allegedly providing food ordering docking services for unlicensed catering "workshops".

Many people may disagree, thinking that judging from the amount, a fine of "28,000 yuan" is not a big deal for many companies. Judging from the severity of the punishment, it seems that a fine of "28,000 yuan" is unlikely to have a deterrent effect on companies.

Obviously, many people may have misunderstandings about what the "28,000 yuan" fine means.

It is understood that Meituan Waimai.com was fined 28,000 yuan by the Hangzhou Xihu District Market Supervision Bureau for violating Article 23 of the "Internet Transaction Management Measures" by failing to review and register franchised merchants, establish registration files, and disclose business license information in accordance with regulations.

According to the "Network Transaction Management Measures", the maximum fine for violating the measures is 30,000 yuan, and the "28,000 yuan" fine means that it has reached 93% of the maximum fine. It not only reflects the regulatory authorities' judgment on the degree of violation of the online ordering platform, but also reflects the regulatory authorities' tendency to supervise the online ordering platform.

Of course, the amount is not the focus or significance of this "fine". In fact, the issuance of this fine, on the one hand, means that the industrial and commercial department has included online food ordering platforms in the scope of supervision; on the other hand, it also shows that the curtain of supervision of the online food ordering industry has officially been opened.

However, the question also arises: which departments will extend their regulatory hands to the online food ordering industry? Or, which departments are extending their hands to regulate the online food ordering industry?

This is where things get interesting.

Regulatory department 1: Industrial and commercial administration department

Although it has only been a short time, online ordering has become the "new favorite" of white-collar workers in major office buildings once it was launched, thanks to its features and advantages such as fast ordering, door-to-door delivery, and payment upon delivery.

However, as online food ordering becomes increasingly popular, some problems have also gradually surfaced, including the fact that the food hygiene for online food ordering does not meet standards, that many of the catering businesses connected to online food ordering are unlicensed "small workshops," and so on.

The first ticket mentioned at the beginning of this article was issued by the Hangzhou Market Supervision Bureau. So, what exactly are the responsibilities of this "Market Supervision Bureau"?

In accordance with the spirit of "Implementation Opinions of the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government on Adjusting the Municipal and District (City) Industrial and Commercial Quality Supervision System Reform and Improving the Food and Drug Supervision System" (Hangzhou Government Letter [2014] No. 52), the Hangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration [with the names of Hangzhou Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, Hangzhou Municipal Food and Drug Administration, and Hangzhou Municipal Food Safety Committee Office, abbreviated as Municipal Market Supervision Bureau (Municipal Industry and Commerce Bureau, Municipal Food and Drug Administration, Municipal Food Safety Office)] was established.

Simply put, since the Hangzhou municipal administrative agency adopts a "big department" structure or framework, the responsibilities of the Hangzhou Municipal Market Supervision Bureau include industry and commerce, food and drug supervision, quality supervision, etc., allowing its supervision of the online food ordering industry to achieve "unified management."

However, judging from the basis for the punishment, the "Internet Transaction Management Measures" on which it is based is a departmental regulation formulated by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In other words, the first fine currently issued to the online food ordering industry is mainly a reflection of the industrial and commercial departments' involvement in the supervision of online food ordering platforms.

So, from the perspective of the online food ordering industry or platform, is the industrial and commercial department the only "mother-in-law"? The answer is obviously no.

Regulatory department 2: Food and Drug Administration

On November 14, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration and the Shanghai Communications Administration jointly issued the "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Management of Online Food Ordering on Third-Party Platforms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which became the first domestic regulation for the management of the online food ordering industry.

The Opinion clarifies and stipulates the qualifications or qualifications of online food ordering platforms and the merchants connected to them, the complaint mechanism, the supervision and management mechanism, the credit evaluation and punishment mechanism, and industry self-discipline, and specifically formulates the Food Safety Guidelines for Food Delivery Activities of Catering Units (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines) to clearly specify the processing of ordered food, the range of food, and delivery packaging.

According to the provisions of the "Opinion", third-party platforms should obtain a "Value-Added Telecommunications Business Operation License" issued by the telecommunications management department, and catering units connected to the network should obtain a "Catering Service License" issued by the food and drug regulatory department.

As the first domestic management regulation to regulate the online food ordering industry, the "Opinions" are highly targeted and operational, and judging from the time of its release, it also promptly responded to the needs of industry management.

According to the provisions of the "Opinion", third-party platforms should strictly review the "Catering Service License" and business license and other relevant qualification certificates submitted by catering units joining the network, require catering units joining the network to provide contact persons and effective contact information, and conduct on-site inspections of catering units, prohibiting catering units that operate without licenses or beyond the scope of operation from joining the network.

If Hangzhou's supervision of the online food ordering industry is still at the level of "what cannot be done", then Shanghai's supervision of the online food ordering industry has stepped into the stage of "what should be done".

Of course, from the perspective of the online food ordering industry or platform, if you are careful, you will find that the food and drug supervision and administration department has become another "mother-in-law" after the industrial and commercial department.

It would be fine if there were only two "mothers-in-law", but that may not be the case.

Regulatory department three: commerce department

On November 1, the "Regulations on the Operation and Management of the Catering Industry (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") jointly formulated by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission was officially implemented.

Article 4 of the Measures stipulates that the state encourages catering operators to develop popular catering services such as meal delivery. Article 3 of the Measures stipulates that the Ministry of Commerce is responsible for the management of the national catering industry. In other words, the Ministry of Commerce's Measures seem to imply that the online food ordering industry or online food ordering platforms should accept its management.

Obviously, based on the above analysis and interpretation, we can see that the industrial and commercial departments, food and drug regulatory departments or commerce departments are all directly or indirectly "reaching out" to manage.

What's more terrible is that there may be more than just these few hands reaching out. According to the Food Safety Law and the Regulations for the Implementation of the Food Safety Law, the food and catering industry implements a "multi-head, segmented management model", and the health, quality supervision, industry and commerce, commerce, food and drug supervision, industry and information technology departments all have certain regulatory responsibilities.

Of course, there is another problem. When there is multiple and segmented supervision, if the regulatory requirements of different regulatory departments are inconsistent or even "conflicting", the online food ordering industry or platform will inevitably feel "at a loss".

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the regulation of the 2020 online food ordering industry is "intricate and confusing". As an online food ordering platform, who should it listen to? This is really a "head-scratching" reality problem.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.