The Administrative Enforcement Guidelines on Cited Content in Commercial Advertisements came into force on June 3, 2026.

Commercial advertisements aim to promote goods and services for profit. For this reason, many operators tend to break promotional boundaries to achieve better publicity outcomes. In particular, numerous enterprises frequently cite test data, survey reports and other materials to make their advertisements appear objective and credible. There is a wide variety of problems regarding cited content in advertisements. On June 3, 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued the Administrative Enforcement Guidelines on Cited Content in Commercial Advertisements, laying down clearer compliance requirements for advertisements referencing data, excerpts, survey results and similar materials. Given the Guidelines contain extensive and detailed provisions, hereinbelow we only introduce some common scenarios.

  1. Cited Data

Article 4 of the Guidelines stipulates: “Where data cited in an advertisement is obtained through experiments, measurements, inspections, testing or other means, the institution issuing the relevant experimental conclusions, measurement findings or inspection and testing data (including results, conclusions and the like, hereinafter the same) shall possess corresponding statutory qualifications and professional competence. Measuring instruments, facilities, environmental conditions and other related elements shall comply with national requirements set forth in laws, administrative regulations, rules, mandatory national standards, metrological technical specifications and other relevant national provisions. If national or industrial standards govern experimental, measurement, inspection and testing methodologies, such prescribed standards shall be followed. In the absence of applicable national or industrial standards, methodologies widely recognized within the relevant industry or field shall be adopted.”

This provision sets a stringent standard requiring issuing institutions to satisfy both statutory qualifications and professional competence (the two requirements are conjunctive rather than alternative). This raises a critical question: will measurement data generated by an enterprise’s internal laboratory be deemed false citations in the future, solely due to the laboratory lacking statutory qualifications?

  1. Cited Excerpts and Quotations

Article 7 of the Guidelines provides: “Excerpts and quotations cited in advertisements shall be consistent with the original text in meaning; the source literature and materials shall be genuine, existing and retrievable; and the viewpoints contained therein shall conform to general scientific knowledge.”

This clause emphasizes that all cited source literature must be authentic and accessible. Beyond regulating enterprises’ citations of traditional printed literature, the provision imposes heavier due diligence obligations on enterprises to verify the authenticity of reference materials amid the current AI era.

  1. Legibility Requirements for Cited Content

To curb the prevalent deceptive advertising practice of “large eye-catching headlines paired with tiny disclaimer fine print”, Article 11 of the Guidelines states: “Where an advertisement with cited content includes information regarding product performance, functions, applications, specifications, validity periods, preferential terms and other similar particulars, advertisers shall not adopt measures that hinder consumer identification — such as reducing font size, altering font styles, or using text colors similar to the background — to narrow the scope of the aforementioned product particulars, or to provide interpretations and explanations that contradict general scientific knowledge or harm consumers’ interests.”

  1. Exempt Scenarios for Absolute Superlative Terms in Cited Advertisements

Article 13 of the Guidelines specifies three exempt scenarios where the use of absolute superlative terms will not trigger law enforcement penalties:

  1. The geographic scope referenced by the superlative term covers an area smaller than a provincial-level administrative region.
  2. The industry or field of the goods referenced by the superlative term falls under a narrower classification than the industrial categories defined in national and industrial standards such as the Industrial Classification for National Economic Activities.
  3. No dedicated national or industrial product/service standards apply to the goods referenced by the superlative term.