农夫山泉质量门：为尊严关厂 与《京华时报》激辩

Nongfu Spring, one of China's biggest bottled water companies, is attempting to sue The Beijing Times over reports that its products fail to meet national standards.

中国最大的瓶装水制造商农夫山泉，因《京华时报》对其生产不合国家标准饮用水的报道不实，对《京华时报》提出诉讼。

In an online statement on Monday, the company said it is seeking 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in damages from the paper, which it accuses of defamation.

周一，农夫山泉则在其官方微博发布消息，表示已提起诉讼，向《京华时报》索赔名誉损失6000万元。

Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, appeared at a news conference in the afternoon that descended into a war of words with reporters from The Beijing Times, who insisted reports about the water quality had been "factual" and "well-grounded".

农夫山泉董事长钟睒睒6日下午出席资讯发布会，但会议很快就变成了矿泉水公司和《京华时报》记者的唇枪舌剑。后者坚持他们的报道“客观实际”、“有理有据”。

An unidentified female manager with the company, who also appeared at the briefing, did not answer questions directly about the legal action, but would only confirm a lawsuit has been filed with a Beijing court and it is awaiting acceptance.

矿泉水公司一位身份未确定的女性经理也出现在会场上，但她并未对法律诉讼的问题作出直接回应，只是不断强调已向北京法院递交诉讼材料，目前此案正在立案审查中。

The dispute has raged since April 10, when The Beijing Times published a report that said Nongfu Spring, whose sales of bottled water account for 20 percent of the domestic market, did not meet the national water quality standard, and instead adhered to a lower standard set by Zhejiang province, where the company is based.

这次纠纷源于4月10日《京华时报》发表的多篇报道，直指农夫山泉虽占有20%的国内瓶装水市场，执行的却是公司总部所在地浙江省制定的地方标准，低于国家饮用水标准。

On its bottles' label, Nongfu Spring quotes DB33/383-2005, the Zhejiang standard, but not the updated national standard, despite its products being available nationwide.

尽管农夫山泉在全国各地有售，但其瓶身标签的标准却是DB33/383-2005，是浙江省瓶装饮用天然水的标准。

Some Zhejiang quality standard indexes are considered less strict, which have caused doubt as local standards are required to be stricter than national standards, according to regulations.

根据法规规定，国家标准应高于地方标准。因此有人怀疑某些浙江质量标准指标并不严格。

One example is on the permitted amount of toxic arsenic, where no more than 0.01 milligrams per liter is the national standard, but the allowed maximum amount is 0.05 mg/liter according to Zhejiang standards, which are followed by Nongfu Spring.

比如说，国标对自来水里面的砷的标准，含量应该是每升0.01毫克以内，但是浙标对于瓶装水同一物质的含量的要求是每升0.05毫克以内。而农夫山泉正是按照质量要求更为宽松的浙标进行生产的。

Nongfu Spring's chairman Zhong said on Monday: "We didn't label national standards on our product because they are mandatory, and we are also supervised by national standards in production."

农夫山泉董事长钟睒睒周一表示：“安全标准是国家的强制标准，即使不标示在标签上，企业也必须执行；公司生产过程也受国家标准监管。”

The company has been adopting several standards for bottled water products, he said, including a national standard on the sanitation of bottled drinking water, a national standard on tap water and a quality standard on bottled drinking water made in Zhejiang.

钟睒睒说，公司生产瓶装水时会采取多个质量标准，包括国家瓶装饮用水卫生标准、国家自来水标准和浙江瓶装饮用水质量标准。

"When there are different requirements for a same index in these standards, we always choose the strictest requirement," Zhong said.

钟睒睒表示：“当同一指标出现不同要求时，我们总是选用最严格的标准。”