Since June 2026, Chinese law states expressly that the advertiser carries the burden of proof for the truth, accuracy, and lawfulness of its advertising claims. A company that cannot produce evidence during an inspection has already conceded the violation. The authority need investigate nothing further. This shifts the question. It is no longer about which words are prohibited, but about which of your claims will withstand scrutiny and what documentation must exist to support them. The Advertising Law China Compliance Audit reviews your Chinese marketing texts against the enforcement guidelines currently issued by the market regulator. You receive not a list of deleted words, but a register of your claims with a legal classification and the supporting document each one requires. Including the claims you may keep unchanged.
| Substantiated Claims and Source Attribution | Any claim supported by data, measurements, test reports, studies, or technical literature must name its source. For journals, the issue and edition; for websites, the access path. If the source cannot be publicly retrieved, that counts against you. On European industrial websites, this is by volume the most frequent finding. |
| Scope of Application and Validity | Laboratory values, test bench results, and sample testing are permissible only if the reproduction conditions are stated. If a test result applies solely to the sample submitted, that must be said. Studies with a defined geographic or sector scope, or with a validity period, must state them. European technical communication regularly omits this, because a specialist readership supplies it mentally. |
| Ranking and Market Position Claims | Since June 2026, three situations fall outside the exemption: where the territory named is smaller than a Chinese province, where the sector classification is narrower than the national industry classification, or where no Chinese product standard exists for the product at all. The third applies to most European niche manufacturers. In that case the claim cannot be refined, it must be replaced, and even a carefully conducted study changes nothing. |
| Absolute Formulations | The Advertising Law prohibits terms such as “highest grade” or “best” and formulations of equivalent meaning. The enforcement guideline of 2023 exempts nine categories, among them self-comparisons within your own brand, grade designations based on published standards, brand names, and state-conferred awards. These claims remain permissible. |
| Small Print | Qualifications may not be concealed through reduced type size, altered typeface, or a colour close to the background. Nor can an inaccurate performance claim be rescued by a note in the small print stating that it represents a corporate vision. |
| Corporate Self-Description | Details of company name, abbreviation, logo, founding date, and business scope published on your own media generally do not constitute advertising, provided they promote no product either directly or indirectly. The exemption is narrow and covers no quality or market position claims. Unsubstantiated absolute formulations are pursued here under unfair competition law, which carries a higher maximum penalty than the Advertising Law. Your “About Us” page therefore changes its legal basis; it does not fall outside the audit. |
| AI-Generated Content | Data and conclusions produced using AI count as self-substantiation and carry the same burden of proof as your own measurements. Undisclosed AI personas endorsing a product may be treated as misleading advertising. |
| State and Government References | The national flag, anthem, emblem, military insignia, and the names or images of state bodies and officials. Prohibited without exemption, the highest risk category. |
| Sectors Under Stricter Standards | Medicine, aesthetic medicine, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health foods, foods for special medical purposes, investment solicitation, and education and training. All grounds for mitigation and exemption fall away here. |
| Translation Traps | The risk often arises only in translation. “Optimal solution” becomes “best solution,” “maximum safety” becomes “absolute safety.” Conversely, substantiable claims lose their qualifying scope in translation and only then become open to challenge. |
| Step 1: Applicability | We determine for each passage whether it falls within the scope of the regulation at all. Corporate self-description on your own media without product promotion generally lies outside it. |
| Step 2: Exemption | We review the nine categories set out in the enforcement guideline, among them self-comparisons within the brand, grade designations based on published standards, brand names, and state-conferred awards. |
| Step 3: Substantiation | For each claim we establish what evidence supports it: source, qualification of the issuing body, public retrievability, scope of application, validity period, reproduction conditions, presentation in the text, and any ranking element. |
| Step 4: Sector and Channel | Classification by sector standard and publication channel. Your own website, marketplaces, and livestream selling are subject to different standards. |
| Step 5: Classification and Alternatives | Every finding receives a classification and, where required, a ready-to-use alternative with backtranslation. |
For every advertising claim: where it appears in source and target text, its legal classification, the evidence required, and its current status. The register remains maintainable across product changes and market shifts, and it is the document with which you answer a challenge.
A total number of findings tells you nothing, because it treats the harmless and the critical alike. Each finding is instead assigned to one of five classes and paired with a specific recommended action.
Ready-to-use Chinese formulations, each backtranslated so you can check what they actually say. Not generic placeholders, but contextually appropriate solutions.
Recommendations for adapting your German or English source texts so that future translations do not recreate the problem.
| A: Permissible, evidence in hand | Leave unchanged. The evidence is documented in the register. |
| B: Permissible, evidence missing | Obtain the evidence or add the required detail to the text. No deletion needed. |
| C: Not permissible, standard sector | Rephrase or qualify. We supply the alternative. |
| D: Sector under stricter standards | Remove. Grounds for mitigation do not apply here. |
| E: Open to challenge under unfair competition law | Outside the Advertising Law but actionable under other provisions. Reported separately, with a recommendation to seek legal review. |
| Technically Substantiated Product Communication | Efficiency ratings, service life, savings figures, test certificates, study citations. This is where the largest share of findings sits, and it arises whether or not a superlative appears in the text. Companies that have only ever screened for superlatives are unaware of this exposure. |
| Regulated Sectors | Medical technology, health foods, cosmetics with efficacy claims, training providers, investment offerings. All grounds for mitigation fall away here, and the need for review is independent of how restrained the texts are. |
| Market Leadership Claims | If your communication rests on leadership within a niche, you should know whether that claim is still permissible in China. Since June 2026, in most niches it is not. |
| E-Commerce and Livestream | On Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin the exemptions for your own media regularly do not apply. The platforms also filter independently, in places more strictly than the authorities. |
| Website Launch or Relaunch | Review before going live, while changes are still inexpensive. |
| Review of Published Content | Content already published whose risk position is unclear, or content revised on the basis of a prohibited-word list that may have given away more than it needed to. |
| Apple, Beijing 2023 | The Chinese sales entity advertised the M1 chip in the MacBook Air as the company’s fastest processor to date. At the time of the offence, the M1 Pro and M1 Max were already on sale, up to 70 per cent faster. Fine: 200,000 RMB. |
| The Legal Basis | What was pursued was not the superlative but misleading advertising under Article 28 of the Advertising Law. Had the claim been accurate, it would have been permissible as a self-comparison within the same company. |
| What Follows From It | The claim was impermissible not because it contained a superlative but because it was untrue. The case also came to light through a complaint, not through routine monitoring by the authorities. |
| On the Size of the Fine | The 200,000 RMB is the statutory minimum, which applies where advertising expenditure cannot be calculated. The range extends to 1,000,000 RMB, with revocation of the business licence in serious cases. |
| Not Legal Advice | The audit provides the linguistic and substantive basis for a legal assessment but does not replace one. For a conclusive legal opinion we recommend a specialist law firm. Our result is their working document. |
| The Unfair Competition Route | Claims can fall outside the Advertising Law and within unfair competition law at the same time. We report such findings separately but do not assess them conclusively. |
| Platform Rules | Marketplaces enforce their own filtering rules, which can be stricter than the law. A formulation the authorities would not question can still be rejected at product listing. |
| Local Minor-Offence Lists | Local authorities maintain their own dynamically updated lists of minor offences exempt from fines. We check these for the location of your advertising entity, as far as they are published. |
The legal background in detail: what the new enforcement guidelines mean for advertising claims in China
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No. The market regulator’s enforcement guideline sets out nine categories in which the prohibition does not apply, among them self-comparisons within your own brand, grade designations based on published standards, state-conferred awards, and brand names. Deleting across the board costs you advertising impact without reducing risk. For ranking claims about sales volume and market share, however, the position has narrowed considerably since June 2026, and there the answer is replacement rather than refinement.
Probably yes. On technically oriented websites, the larger share of findings concerns substantiation: measured values without reproduction conditions, study citations without a source, test results with no indication that they apply only to the sample submitted. These findings contain no superlative and are invisible to a word-based screening.
Yes. Self-substantiation using your own tests and your own data is expressly permitted and requires no source attribution. Any limitations of time, territory, or other conditions must, however, be clearly stated. If you commission a third party to carry out the study, the result does not count as self-substantiation and is subject to the full requirements on the qualification of the issuing body and on source attribution.
That depends on the provision breached. Missing or unclear source attribution, up to 100,000 RMB. Impermissible absolute formulations, 200,000 to 1,000,000 RMB. Misleading advertising, three to five times the advertising expenditure, or 200,000 to 1,000,000 RMB where that expenditure cannot be calculated, with higher amounts and possible revocation of the business licence in serious cases. The enforcement guidelines also provide for mitigation and exemption, for instance on a first breach corrected promptly. In the sectors under stricter standards, those grounds do not apply.
No. The audit is based on our localisation expertise and our work with Chinese advertising law. It does not replace legal counsel. For a definitive legal assessment, we recommend consulting a lawyer specialising in Chinese advertising law. Our audit provides you with the linguistic and substantive foundation for that conversation.
We review source texts (German or English) and existing Chinese translations, depending on what is available. Typical materials include website copy, product descriptions, data sheets, brochures, campaign texts, and trade show materials. Reviewing both sides is the point at which we identify claims that came into existence only in translation. Correction through translation or transcreation is not included and is available as a separate service.
After receiving your materials, we deliver an effort estimate within 2 working days. The report typically follows within 5 to 10 working days, depending on the volume of materials.
We work on an hourly basis. Typical project sizes: a website with 5 to 10 pages is approximately 6 to 9 hours, a website plus brochures approximately 9 to 14 hours, and a comprehensive material review approximately 14 to 20 hours. We provide a precise estimate after reviewing your materials.
Yes, and the position there is stricter than on your own website. The exemptions for your own media regularly do not apply to marketplace listings and livestream selling, because a sales purpose and broad distribution coincide. Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin also filter independently, in places more strictly than the authorities. Product descriptions, banners, and campaign texts on these platforms should always be reviewed before going live.
Japanese advertising law follows its own logic, including a statutory deadline for producing substantiation and strict rules on health claims and comparisons. Review of marketing texts for the Japanese market.
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