The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has decided to stop commodity producers and salespeople from using the title of "famous brand" on their products or packages, advertisements, exhibits or other commercial activities. This new rule changed the regulation of "famous brands" to some extent and protects consumers' interests. But a further step should be taken in that direction, says an article of the Southern Metropolis Daily. Excerpt:

It has been a decades-long tradition for the commodity quality, business and commerce authorities to award "famous brand" and "quality inspection exemption" titles of various levels to products selected according to their rules.

The Chinese market has changed a lot during the past years. But these authorities' selection procedures and rules have not changed proportionately.

Worse, most local governments have special awards for the producers who win the titles. The application, assessment and selection procedures for the titles are sometimes influenced by artificial factors, and not based on the quality or popularity of the products.

Carrying such titles gives the products a great advantage over their competitors in advertising and marketing.

However, the melamine scandal of China's Sanlu formula milk powder in 2008, which caused an earthquake through the entire domestic dairy industry, shattered domestic consumers' trust in such titles.

The Sanlu formula carried the titles of "national famous brand" and "national quality inspection exemption commodity". Despite that, it turned out the powder was blended with industrial chemicals to increase its protein content, regardless of the harm to people's health.

The quality inspection authorities and business and commerce administrations must reform their regulations for such titles.

The success of a product depends on its popularity with consumers. After the titles awarded by government departments become a lucrative business for government officials and a protective talisman for inferior products, the titles became meaningless and now contradict their initial purpose.