A Chinese regulator has accused Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) of failing to clean up what it called illegal business deals on the e-commerce titan’s platforms, in an unusually strong government criticism of one of the country’s biggest private firms.
The Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), in a report published on its Web site yesterday, said many products sold on Alibaba’s e-commerce Web sites and services infringed on trademarks, were substandard or fake, were banned or endangered public security.
The report was later removed from the main page of the SAIC Web site (www.saic.gov.cn).
Alibaba declined to comment on the report.
SAIC said the report summarized meeting on July 16 last year between government business regulators and Alibaba, and that it had delayed releasing the report to avoid affecting the e-commerce firm’s initial public offering (IPO), which took place in September last year.
SAIC did not elaborate.
Alibaba, which raised a record-setting US$25 billion from its New York IPO, is due to release its quarterly results today.
“Alibaba Group has long paid insufficient attention to illegal business activities on Alibaba platforms,” the SAIC report said.
Alibaba “let that abscess fester until it became a danger,” it added.
The report said Alibaba officials pledged during the July meeting to take the necessary steps to rectify the problems.
The SAIC has a broad supervisory role over online trading platforms and business in China.
Alibaba, which until a few years ago was on a US list of “notorious markets” for intellectual property infringement, has fought hard to tackle counterfeit products to keep its reputation from being tarnished in the run-up to, and after, the IPO, the world’s biggest ever listing.
Earlier this month, it agreed with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to stop the sale of up to 15 illegal or dangerous toys in the US.
However, online counterfeit products remain a big problem in China.
Joe Simone, director of Hong-Kong based intellectual property consultancy SIPS, said the regulator’s comments about counterfeit goods were no surprise.
“The frankness of the report and its condemning tone are unprecedented and speak volumes about what the SAIC found in its inspection,” he added.
In the report, the regulator said Alibaba had misled consumers during sales events, including its popular Nov. 11 annual “Singles Day” shopping extravaganza.
At last year’s event, Alibaba reported a surge in sales transactions to a record high of US$9 billion, but merchants said they felt pressure from Alibaba’s Tmall to boost their figures on the day with heavy discounts and delayed recognition of earlier sales.
Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer shopping Web site Taobao yesterday said it would lodge a complaint with the SAIC over a separate investigation by the regulator that allegedly uncovered a range of counterfeit products on the site.
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