China sets up new body to control e-commerce quality
03/11/2016
Authorities in China agreed in June 2015 to set up the monitoring centre and the plans came to completion in early November when the centre was launched.
Based in Hangzhou, described as China’s e-commerce capital, the monitoring centre will keep tabs on the quality of products being sold online to customers overseas and protect consumer rights, officials said at the time of the launch. They confirmed that working with Alibaba on policy, data sharing and product quality supervision would be part of this effort.
The irony here is that Alibaba’s standing in the international e-commerce marketplace is low. In May the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) suspended Alibaba's membership. In October, the American Apparel & Footwear Association called for Alibaba to be classified as a “notorious market”, claiming that as many as 67% of the items for sale on its Taobao e-commerce site are counterfeit.
China has more 5,000 e-commerce platforms selling internationally. The ministry of commerce in Beijing has said the value of China’s cross-border e-commerce will be more than $950 billion in 2016 and that it will soon account for 20% of China's overseas trade.
Share this story:
