former ambassador to China, suggested that China was evidently hiding the extent of a pandemic that endangered the world while covertly securing PPE at low prices, as this “surreptitious” operation left “the world naked with no supply of PPE.” Such actions have prompted several governments to take actions against Daigou smuggling and hoarding. Starting from 2012, the New Zealand government has been regularly cracking down and sometimes outright banning unauthorized export of consumer goods through unregistered channels. Australian retailers have imposed multiple restrictions on Daigou purchases of baby formula. Some Daigou service providers fraudulently sell counterfeit products that have been altered to appear purchased abroad from legitimate sources. Responses from China On January 1, 2019, China officially rolled out a new e-commerce law, the first of its kind to directly regulate Daigou activities. Under the new law, all Daigou participants will be legally required to register as e-commerce operators and acquire licenses in both China and the country where they shop, making their business subject to taxation in both China and the region where they purchased goods. Any e-commerce platform and seller could be fined 2 million yuan and 500,000 yuan respectively, and possibly face criminal charges, if they are found guilty of smuggling, tax evasion and willful violation of the new e-commerce law. See also Parallel trading in Hong Kong References External links JINGDAILY: daigou Retail processes and techniques Smuggling Business terms Tax evasion Tax avoidance Chinese-speaking people by occupation Sales occupations Retailing-related crime