By misbehaving with inspectors, Muji has defied the rule of law

OFFICIALS OF the industry and commerce administrative departments of Beijing conducted a spot check on an outlet of Muji, a Japanese retail brand, recently. But the routine inspection became headline news because of the non-cooperative attitude of the shop attendants. Qianjiang Evening News comments:

The shop assistants shut the door in the inspectors’ face, and removed almost all the wooden furniture that the officers said they would check, and allegedly deleted all inventory information on the furniture before letting the inspectors in.

In response, Muji said on Tuesday that it had mailed the furniture samples demanded by the inspectors to the Beijing outlet, and they will be submitted to the officials. The company also said it is investigating the other issues raised by the inspectors, including the “non-existent inventory information”, and added that it will fix the “inventory retrieval system”.

The restraint exercised by the departments’ officials while trying to enforce the law is a bit hard to understand. Perhaps the officials’ amiable nature prompted the Muji shop assistants to misbehave with them.

Or were the shop assistants non-cooperative because the furniture indeed had some problems? Muji’s practice suggests it is against random spot checks and, instead, believes in sending samples to the officials for tests. Why else did it give the excuse of possible software malfunctioning?

If the authorities do not take steps against such a practice, it could well become the norm for other companies, which in turn will disrupt the market order and compromise consumer interests.

Of course, the authorities know best how to handle the case, which is no longer only about the problems with commodities, but an open challenge to the rule of law.

All businesses in China — no matter where they are from — are equal in the eyes of the law. So the authorities should take measures to ensure companies such as Muji do not toy with the law.