China News Service, Beijing, September 24 (Reporter Zuo Yuqing) Recently, a number of mass-market snack brands have been raided by municipal supervision departments in many places due to "lack of jins and short liang". The issue of "lack of jins and short liang" in the field of people's livelihood has attracted great attention from all walks of life.
On September 24, Wang Qiuping, spokesperson and director of the Press and Publicity Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, introduced at the regular press conference of the State Administration for Market Regulation in the third quarter of 2026 that recently, in order to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and create a safe and fair consumption environment, we have accelerated the construction of penetrating supervision of electronic pricing scales. system, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as "missing a pound" and "cheating scales". In accordance with the "Measurement Law of the People's Republic of China", the "Implementation Rules of the Measurement Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations, the State Administration for Market Regulation decided to launch a pilot project for the measurement supervision of electronic price scales in Hebei Province, Zhejiang Province, and Fujian Province.
It is reported that since the beginning of this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation has carried out a "look back" to comprehensively rectify the market order of electronic price scales, inspecting a total of 1.246 million electronic price scales, investigating and punishing 8,544 substandard scales, and 6,096 cases of illegal measurement. It has achieved phased results, but the risk of rebound of the problem still exists. This time, the pilot project was carried out in Hebei, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces. The purpose is to solve the stubborn problem of "ghost scales" from the institutional and technical levels, and promote the transformation of the governance model from "manual identification of counterfeiting" to "technical anti-counterfeiting", and from "post-event investigation and punishment" to "pre-emptive prevention".
According to reports, this pilot innovation is mainly reflected in three aspects:
The first is to upgrade the source of technical specifications and build a "firewall" from the production side. The State Administration for Market Regulation issued two new specifications, the "Outline for Type Evaluation of Electronic Pricing Scales" and the "Calibration Procedures for Electronic Pricing Scales." It is required that electronic pricing scales must have the anti-cheating functions of "opening and locking, authorized unlocking, and three codes and one package". The so-called "three codes and one package" means that the production code, maintenance code, verification code and lead seal are sealed together to technically block the loopholes of disassembly, modification, and installation of cheating programs. All products must be produced with certificates and entered into the market in accordance with regulations, and the first hurdle for market access must be strictly observed.
The second is penetrating supervision of the entire chain to achieve "one scale, one code" traceability. The State Administration for Market Regulation has built a national intelligent measurement and supervision platform for electronic price scales, which integrates the entire chain of production, sales, use, verification, and repair, and promotes supervision from "segmented control" to "full integration." At present, the platform has settled 235 manufacturing companies, 2,182 authorized maintenance units, and 900,000 new electronic price scales have been added to the network. On the sales side, electronic pricing scales that do not meet the requirements of the new outline will not be sold starting from January 8 next year; on the repair side, they must be registered on the platform and authorized by the manufacturer, and can only be repaired with the "authorized unlock" command to cut off the chain of malicious modifications. By scanning the unique identity information code on the scale, consumers can check the "identity file" of the entire life cycle of the scale's production, maintenance, and verification. If they find problems such as measurement inaccuracy, they can complain online.
The third is to advance smoothly and orderly without resorting to “one size fits all”. The State Administration for Market Regulation adheres to "categorized policies, stable and orderly, government guidance, and market leadership", and has set a reasonable transition period for online electronic pricing scales, and fair scales in bazaar markets have been upgraded simultaneously to minimize compliance costs for merchants.
Wang Qiuping said that in the next step, the State Administration for Market Regulation will promptly summarize the pilot experience, accelerate the construction of a full-chain smart supervision system for electronic price scales, empower people's livelihood measurement through digital supervision, and resolutely guard the "vegetable basket" and "rice bag" of the people.
