Stamp out the online trade in illegal seals

An advertisement for online shopping site Taobao.com of Alibaba Group is seen at a metro station in Shanghai, Nov 12, 2014. [Photo/IC]

ON SEVERAL DOMESTIC e-commerce platforms, there are online shops that will make stamps for anybody willing to pay a few dozen yuan, even if the customer is without the necessary authorization materials. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

According to the law, those who wish to make a chop for their organization must have certain certificates because a seal is used to give documents legal status. However, a search for seal makers on taobao.com will return as many as 35,323 service providers, many of whom do not require any supporting certification materials from customers. In other words, quite a number of unauthorized stamps are made in online shops every year.

It is time to crack down on these lawbreakers. According to the Criminal Law, those falsifying chops face imprisonment.

But the e-commerce platforms also need to shoulder their responsibilities to supervise their platforms. All the major domestic e-commerce platforms claim they have supervisory departments, but the rampancy of the illegal stamps proves they need to improve. The e-commerce giants need to strengthen supervision over the shops on their platforms.

The law also says that if someone violates another person's legal rights and interests via an online platform, the online service provider should be held accountable if it knows what is happening but does not take any action to prevent it. The e-commerce platforms should be held responsible if there is evidence showing they know the online shops are selling illegal chops.

And those buying the stamps without the needed certificates commit illegal deeds, too, and they should also be punished for their crime. Some of them then commit further crimes by using the illegal seals on documents; they deserve to receive punishments for both deeds.