Chinese lawmakers are considering a new draft law that would allow restaurants to charge diners an extra fee if they waste excessive amounts of food.
The draft anti-food-waste law was on Monday returned to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for a second reading.
After the first review in December 2020, the draft law was amended to specify that the penalties for catering service providers will be imposed by the supervision and administration department of the local government at a county level or above or other departments designated by the local government.
According to the draft, food service operators will be fined up to 10,000 yuan if they mislead consumers into ordering excessively and if they refuse to rectify the situation.
The draft also strengthened the management of catering for civil servants using public funds, so that they could perform a leading role in preventing food waste.