New regulations for prepaid cards open up the last mile of consumer rights protection
□ Lin Nante
The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress recently voted to pass the "Regulations on the Administration of Single-Purpose Prepaid Cards in Beijing" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations").
In response to the problems of “easy to apply for a card, difficult to return,” “overlord clauses”, and “money running away” in the field of card application consumption, strengthen the legal rights and interests of consumers in the aspects of filing and depository system design, card refunding, and legal responsibilities. protect.
Nowadays, the application range of prepaid cards in people's daily life is becoming wider and wider, especially in consumption fields such as catering, fitness, hairdressing, education and training, and even becoming the mainstream consumption mode.
While prepaid cards bring convenience and benefits to people, it also breeds problems such as false propaganda, difficulty in transferring cards and refunding cards, and merchants "running away", which seriously infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
From a legal perspective, prepaid card consumption is essentially a contractual relationship established between consumers and operators.
If a business operator provides goods or services in the form of advance payment, it shall provide it in accordance with the agreement; if it fails to provide it in accordance with the agreement, it shall fulfill the agreement or refund the advance payment in accordance with the requirements of consumers.
However, in practice, due to information asymmetry, consumers are often in a weak position, coupled with the high cost of litigation and protection of rights, and the difficulty of effective proof. This makes many consumers whose rights and interests have been damaged face the chaos of prepaid cards. Evolved into a major ailment in the consumer sector.
The special legislation in Beijing this time has made many specific and targeted regulations in terms of clarifying the government's regulatory responsibilities, regulating the issuance and redemption of prepaid cards, and strengthening legal responsibilities, drawing a clearer red line for operators.
For example, in order to solve the problem of consumer proof, the "Regulations" stipulate that operators must sign contracts with consumers, promptly issue consumption vouchers, and keep transaction data for at least three years.
In order to solve the problem of difficult refunds, a seven-day refund cooling-off period system is stipulated; refunds must be settled within 15 days.
Such regulations are aimed at opening up the "last mile" for the protection of consumers' legitimate rights and interests, and providing full-process and comprehensive protection for consumers' rights and interests.
In addition, the "Regulations" also set up a special filing and fund deposit management system to intervene in the management and control of operators' advance funds through administrative compulsory means, which will more effectively protect the safety of consumers' advance funds.
Protecting the rights and interests of consumers is not a trivial matter. Responding to the concerns of the masses through legislation has fully demonstrated the concept of legislation for the people.
It is hoped that Beijing's "Regulations" can be effectively implemented to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and at the same time provide useful reference for other places, and jointly promote the orderly development of prepaid consumption norms.