Entry date is earlier than production date, so is the authenticity of the traceability code?
The溯源码 has been widely used in product circulation and sales as a traceable anti-counterfeiting means. However, consumers have encountered some problems with the source code, such as the purchase date on the source code being earlier than the production date, discrepancies between product names and actual products, and the ability of merchants to modify source code information at any time.
As a public interactive platform, The Paper’s “Service Pai” recently received complaints from many consumers about issues with the source codes of purchased products, including cases where the “customs entry date” on the source code was earlier than the production date.
For issues where the product information on the source code is obviously inconsistent with the actual product, most of the interviewed e-commerce merchants attribute these problems to “mislabeling” or “omitting labeling” by staff. However, this explanation does not convince consumers.
On October 24th during the “Double 11” promotional period, consumer Mr. Tian spent 246 yuan to purchase a brand of cat food named “Suli Gao” from “Tmall International Self-operated Global Superstore” and also bought a bottle of Puli Pela liquid calcium tablets from “Puli Pela Health Bay Overseas Boutique Store”. He trustedTmall International so much that he specifically checked the related information when purchasing.
After purchasing the products, Mr. Tian accidentally found that the “traceability information” of the products could be viewed on the order logistics details page. After clicking to enter, it showed the name “Tmall International Traceability Information”, which included information such as the country of origin and storage location of the products. The “supervision information” section showed information such as customs entry, customs declaration number, etc.
What puzzled Mr. Tian was that through the customs declaration number, he found that the customs declaration time for the cat food was in 2023 and the customs declaration time for the liquid calcium tablets was in 2022, which made him suspect that the products were not fresh.
After receiving the products, Mr. Tian immediately checked the production dates marked on both products. To his surprise, he found that the production date on the cat food bottle was marked as June 2024, while the source code showed that the customs entry date was in 2023.
Mr. Tian contacted customer service of both products. The staff of “Tmall International Self-operated Global Superstore” said that the general shelf life was 3 years, but later changed to 2 years. However, even if it was a 3-year shelf life, it could only be traced back to a production date in 2023 based on the source code information. The liquid calcium tablets are imported from the United States with no production date marked but only an expiration date of June 2026.
According to The Paper’s understanding, based on the “Regulations on the Preparation of Customs Declaration Forms for Imports and Exports” issued by the General Administration of Customs on January 22, 2019, each customs declaration form corresponds to a unique customs declaration number generated automatically by the system. The 18-digit number includes information such as the code of the customs accepting the declaration and the year of customs acceptance (indicated by the fourth to seventh digits).
In this case, Mr. Tian provided screenshots of Tmall International’s traceability information. The eighth to eleventh digits of the customs declaration number for the cat food indicated that the year of customs acceptance was 2023. For the liquid calcium tablets, these digits showed a customs acceptance year of 2022. Both dates were earlier than their respective production dates (assuming a shelf life of 3 years for the liquid calcium tablets).
Mr. Tian contacted both product merchants about these discrepancies with mixed results: staff from “Tmall International Self-operated Global Superstore” said they needed to verify product details with their colleagues within 24 hours; while staff from “Puli Pela Health Bay Overseas Boutique Store” did not provide a reasonable explanation for these discrepancies in traceability information and production dates on their products which led Mr Tian to believe that there might be issues with product authenticity or even foul play by merchants related to swapping products during tax period through manipulation of traceability codes which could potentially compromise product quality and consumer trust in these products as genuine items .
Consumer Ms Li also encountered similar issues where she bought two bottles of liquor during a promotional period only to find out that discrepancies existed between declared information on traceability codes and actual product details such as flavors . She reported that she was not able to resolve this issue despite escalating complaints to authorities who claimed it was legitimate liquor , even after inspecting through third party sources at her home . More concerning was that when Ms Li re-scanned same product’s traceability code , she found that product certification information had been modified by someone else . She questioned how legitimate these traceability codes were if they could be altered at any time by someone else . Such concerns about manipulation of traceability codes echoed across other platforms as well as platforms such as Pinduoduo Global Shopping and Kaola Shopping also faced complaints about issues related to traceability codes such as non-existent codes , scanning failures , or false traceability code information pages which impacted consumers trust in authenticity of their purchases . In addition to concerns about falsified traceability codes compromising consumer trust in product authenticity , there were also reports of discrepancies between declared flavors on traceability codes vs actual flavors which merchants claimed were due to errors during warehousing operations or cross contamination during shipping but left consumers skeptical about integrity of these products especially when there were reports of traceability codes being updated or modified without any clear explanation from merchants or platforms . Platforms like Tmall International have stated that they take these complaints seriously and are investigating issues like mismatched flavors on traceability codes by working closely with merchants to verify product authenticity and provide updated information to consumers . However , they also acknowledge that some discrepancies may occur due to operational errors during warehousing process or miscommunications with suppliers which they are actively trying to rectify through improved processes and increased transparency with consumers about origin and authenticity of their purchases . Consumers however remain skeptical about integrity of these products especially when it comes to authenticity of traceability codes which they believe are crucial indicators of product quality and origin since they can be used to verify authenticity of purchases .
