美国证交会向阿里巴巴索取信息

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has asked the Alibaba Group for information about its dealings with a Chinese regulator, which criticised the ecommerce company for inadequately policing its merchants for counterfeit goods.

美国证券交易委员会(SEC)已要求阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)提供其与一家中国监管机构打交道的信息。后者曾批评这家电商企业对在其平台上销售假冒商品的商家监督不力。

Alibaba in January denied it had potentially misled investors in the lead-up to its record $25bn initial public offering in the US last year, after China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce revealed that it had been questioning Alibaba’s supervision of sellers on its online platform.

1月，阿里巴巴否认其去年在美国进行创纪录的250亿美元IPO之前有可能误导了投资者。此前中国国家工商行政管理总局透露，它曾质疑阿里巴巴对在线平台卖家的监督。

In its IPO filings before it went public in September, Alibaba did not disclose that it had been questioned by the SAIC, including during a meeting with Chinese regulators last July.

阿里巴巴在去年9月上市之前提交的IPO申报文件中，并没有披露其已经受到工商总局的质疑，包括曾在7月与中国监管机构开会。

Alibaba said on Friday that the SEC had asked for “background facts and other information related to our interaction” with the SAIC.

阿里巴巴上周五表示，SEC已要求获得“有关我们与（中国工商总局）接触的背景事实和其它信息”。

The company added that it was not obliged to disclose the SEC request but it wanted to publicise it because it valued being open with its investors. The Financial Times reported in January that the SEC was looking into Alibaba and the SAIC probe.

该公司补充说，它没有义务披露SEC的要求，但它想要披露，因为它重视对投资者保持公开。英国《金融时报》1月曾报道，SEC正在关注阿里巴巴和工商总局的调查。

“[We] feel that disclosure could help avoid false rumours or speculation,” Alibaba said. “The SEC letter states it should in no way be construed as Alibaba Group having done anything wrong or there having been any violation of securities law.”

“（我们）认为披露可能有助于避免谣言或猜测，”阿里巴巴表示。“SEC的信指出，此举不应被理解为阿里巴巴集团有任何过错，或者有任何违反证券法的行为。”

The SEC declined to comment.

SEC拒绝发表评论。

The agency routinely questions companies after an IPO if issues are raised. The SEC questioned Facebook after its 2017 IPO was marred by technical glitches and issues over disclosures the company made about advertising revenue. The probe was dropped last year.

在冒出问题的情况下，该机构经常在IPO之后质疑新上市公司。2017年，Facebook的IPO受到技术故障影响，该公司就广告营收所作的披露也引发一些问题，SEC曾就这些问题询问该公司。这项调查已在去年撤销。

Alibaba’s most recent IPO prospectus, which was filed on September 15, warned of “allegations and lawsuits claiming that items listed on our marketplaces are pirated, counterfeit or illegal”. It also warned of the “complex and developing” regulatory system in China. But there was no specific reference to the SAIC probe.

阿里巴巴在去年9月15日提交的最后一份招股说明书中警告，公司可能遭遇“指控和诉讼，说我们市场中出售的产品是盗版、假冒或非法的”。它还警告，中国存在“复杂和发展中的”监管体系，但没有具体提及工商总局的调查。

However, since the SAIC disclosed its questions about Alibaba last month there has been conflicting information about whether the regulator wrote a formal paper about the probe, or merely revealed informal notes from a meeting about the issue.

然而，自工商总局上月披露其对阿里巴巴提出的问题以来，对于该监管机构写了一份关于这项调查的正式文件，还是只是披露了有关该问题的一个会上的非正式笔记，各方提供了相互矛盾的信息。

Alibaba has denied misleading investors and Joe Tsai, executive vice-chairman, said in January the SAIC report was “an inaccurate and unfair attack”. The accusations have also sparked shareholder lawsuits in the US.

阿里巴巴否认误导投资者，执行副主席蔡崇信(Joe Tsai)在1月份表示，工商总局的报告是一次“不实及不公平的攻击”。相关指控已在美国引发了股东诉讼。

“Alibaba has never requested the SAIC to delay the publication of any report,” said Mr Tsai, who described the July meeting with the SAIC as routine. “We have a zero tolerance policy towards counterfeits on our platform because the health and integrity of our marketplaces depend on consumer trust.”

“阿里巴巴并没有要求工商总局延迟公布任何报告，”蔡崇信表示。他形容去年7月与工商总局的会议是例行的。“对于我们平台上的假货我们始终采取的是零容忍的态度，因为我们平台的健康和完整取决于消费者的信任。”

At the end of January Alibaba and the SAIC vowed to work together to tackle counterfeiting.

1月底，阿里巴巴和工商总局誓言联手打击售假行为。