Top securities regulator fines company for illegal vaccine production

China's top securities regulator has preliminarily decided to impose a fine of 600,000 yuan on Changchun Changsheng Bio-tech Co, the vaccine maker at the center of a recent safety scandal, and a fine of 300,000 yuan respectively on the company's four executives bearing direct responsibility, based on investigation results and the Securities Law, according to a statement published on the website of the China's Securities Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.

The fines of 600,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan were both the upper limits of punishment stipulated in related articles of the Securities Law.

The regulator's investigation results showed the company's five faults in information disclosure, including having not disclosed its vaccines' failure in meeting related standards and the consequent production suspensions and product recalls, as well as delivering misleading statements and major omissions about its subsidiary's products.

The commission also planned to give the four executives bearing direct responsibility warnings and lifetime prohibitions from entering into the securities market, which means they shall not undertake any securities practice or hold the posts of director, supervisor or senior manager of a listed company for life. Punishments for other managers in charge were specified in the statement as well.

The commission will make a formal punishment decision in accordance with the Law after fully hearing the opinions of related parties.