Against the backdrop of the Hong Kong stock market’s heavy decline, Meituan (3690-HK) once expanded to 15% in midday on Monday (26th), setting its biggest one-day decline. China’s official announcement of new regulations for food delivery platforms in the afternoon became the main reason for the worsening of the decline. The mainland media reported that recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other 7 units jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Responsibilities of Online Catering Platforms and Effectively Protecting the Rights and Interests of Food Delivery Personnel”, which put forward comprehensive requirements for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of food delivery employees. The main contents of the new regulations include: guaranteeing labor income, guaranteeing labor safety, maintaining food safety, improving social security, optimizing the working environment, strengthening organizational construction, and conflict resolution mechanisms. Among them, in terms of ensuring labor safety, the new regulations require that the platform order dispatch mechanism be improved, the distribution route is optimized, the order saturation is reasonably determined, and the labor intensity is reduced. Strengthen traffic safety education and training, and guide and supervise food delivery staff to strictly abide by traffic laws. In terms of maintaining food safety, the new regulations require the implementation of the main responsibility for the safety of platform companies in the food distribution process, formulate management regulations for food delivery services, strengthen food safety knowledge training, and ensure that the food distribution process is not polluted. After the release of the document, Meituan’s share price fell more than 14% to 235.6 Hong Kong dollars, a record high since Meituan went public.
