On January 1, 2019, the “E-Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China” (hereinafter referred to as the “E-Commerce Law”) was officially implemented. Micro Business, Procurement Service and other formalities were included in the supervision, all E-Commerce activities must be registered, and pay taxes in accordance with the law. This shows that the era of savage growth of E-Commerce has passed, and the norm will be the key word for E-Commerce in the future.

Since this year, micro traders, procurement services, etc. Has been given a new identity – “E-Commerce Operator”. Many of them sell goods through a network of acquaintances, high consumer confidence and stickiness. According to Zhiyan Consulting data, from 2014 to 2017, the number of social media merchant businesses in China increased from 7.52 million to 20.18 million. By 2019, the size of the social media business market is expected to reach 1 trillion yuan. These include “social E-Commerce” which has grown wild in recent years and has formed a counterweight to traditional E-Commerce.

Three Keywords “E-Commerce Law”

It is undeniable that E-Commerce currently has various types of chaos such as fake items, fake praise comments, leaked personal information, and responsibilities that ignore sales after sales. The application of “E-Commerce Law” has resulted in a strong increase in strength on both the traditional E-Commerce platform and the new social E-Commerce platform.

1. Payment of Taxes

For a long time, the phenomenon of tax evasion in the field of E-Commerce has become serious. Article 11 of the E-Commerce Law stipulates that E-Commerce operators must carry out their tax payment obligations in accordance with the law and enjoy tax benefits in accordance with the law. The main payment body must include the operator on the E-Commerce platform. This means that all trading methods through E-Commerce channels require tax.

2. Business Permit

Article 10 of the E-Commerce Law stipulates that E-Commerce operators must handle the registration of market entities in accordance with the law. In particular, overseas online deposit services must have business licenses from China and the other country. Article 29 stipulates that it is necessary to take steps to deal with products that are not licensed or prohibited and report to the authorities.

3. Platform Responsibility

In actual E-Commerce business activities, regarding the commercial status of parties involved in transactions, platform operators> e-commerce operators> consumers. Article 38 of the E-Commerce Law stipulates that joint responsibility is borne or known to know business violations without taking the necessary actions. Article 83 stipulates that if the E-Commerce platform operator violates the provisions of Article 38 of the law, or fails to qualify for an operator audit on the platform, the supervision department and market management will order the time limit to be corrected, and the situation will be ordered to stop repair. Fines not less than 500,000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan will be charged.

Although the implementation and difficulties of the actual implementation of the E-Commerce Act are unknown, it is now clear that in the future, E-Commerce operators will be subject to strict supervision and the industry will be overhauled.

Will being a small company be a solution for micro traders?

Procurement services that originally came from international students or people who worked abroad, when they returned to their home countries, brought some cosmetics, bags, etc. to relatives and friends. With the increasing demand for foreign consumption, private entrusting services are getting bigger because of the unique price advantage. Overseas tour guides, flight attendants, and ordinary tourists have joined the ranks. They buy goods at low prices abroad, and then sell them after returning home to make a profit.

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at this year’s meeting that according to preliminary estimates, the Chinese population spends around 200 billion US dollars shopping overseas a year, and its shopping list includes luxury goods and daily consumption goods.

After the adoption of the “E-Commerce Law”, the Deposit Service has two choices: the first to keep the original business unchanged, to register and pay taxes in accordance with the law; the second is leaving the original service business and changing other ways to create cash flow.

In this case, a friend who carried out the procurement service said to Queen Law Firm: “Initially we were able to profit from different prices. If you have to pay taxes, the price of goods will be increased, and nobody wants to buy it anymore.” Obviously, the increase in tax costs makes it lose its price advantage in market competition. The first method does not work for small personal purchasing businesses. In this way, it is more likely to switch to the second.

At the same time, the social E-commerce platform must carry out identity platforms, fight counterfeit goods, ensure authenticity, and improve quality. The information above is the core of the social E-commerce platform competition.

The introduction of the “E-Commerce Law” aims to standardize the fast-growing and mature E-Commerce industry and create a more equitable and reasonable competitive environment. Of course, under the cold winter of capital, the adoption of the E-Commerce Law will accelerate market changes and will also bring some new opportunities.

by Derrick Guan