The National People's Congress (NPC)  Standing Committee, China's top legislature, wrapped up its bimonthly session in Beijing on Monday. Lawmakers passed several draft laws and regulations, including the amendment to the drug administration law.

The revised law proposed new stipulations to better regulate pharmaceutical sales. Violations such as producing or selling drugs without a permit and producing or selling fake or substandard drugs will result in heavier fines. 

The revised law also attaches legal responsibility to some other behavior, including pharmaceutical companies failing to follow regulations to monitor the side effects of drugs, and e-commerce platforms failing to perform duties such as screening the qualifications of drug sellers.

The operation of drug retail chains will be encouraged and guided, but the headquarters of enterprises that run drug retail chains should set up unified systems for quality management and assume management responsibilities for subsidiaries' business activities. 

Online drug sales should abide by relevant stipulations proposed in the draft, it says, adding that vaccines, blood products, anesthetics, radioactive drugs and other drugs under special administration shall not be sold online. 

Specific regulations on online drug sales will be formulated by pharmaceutical and health authorities of the State Council.