On March 11, the "2021 Report on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests in the Field of Online Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the China Consumers Association pointed out that the current eight major infringement issues in the field of online consumption are still relatively prominent, and it is recommended to revise the "Consumer Rights Protection Report". The Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests regulates online consumption in new formats such as live broadcast marketing and community group purchases.
The "Report" takes stock of the important progress made in the protection of consumers' rights and interests in the field of online consumption in China in 2021, and also points out that the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in the field of online consumption are violated: some products and services have quality defects, and in new e-commerce formats, For example, live broadcast marketing and social software marketing are more prominent; violations of consumers' personal information security, illegal collection, analysis, and use of consumers' personal information by technical means such as data and algorithms often occur; with the development of new online consumption formats , especially with the development of online live broadcast marketing, the manifestations of illegal online trading operators’ false propaganda are more diversified; online operators widely use unfair standard terms, such as the use of self-exemption clauses, clauses restricting consumers’ rights, and aggravating consumer Terms of obligations or responsibilities; using prepaid consumption to harm consumers’ rights and interests, refusing to provide reasonable exit channels, refusing consumers to transfer their contractual claims, or setting up unreasonable obstacles for consumers to transfer their claims; Delivery delays, inaccurate logistics information, unauthorized storage of express delivery in express cabinets or collection points, refusal to deliver to your door without justifiable reasons, and arbitrary express charges occur from time to time; hinder consumers from seeking after-sales protection, and abuse the right to return without reason Problems such as exclusion rules, requiring consumers to bear the return and exchange freight charges for returns and exchanges due to defective product quality frequently occur; hinder consumers from making truthful evaluations on the quality of goods or services, or use technical means to prevent consumers from making real evaluations, or for consumers The set consumer evaluation time limit is unreasonable, etc.
The "Report" puts forward 5 suggestions from the perspective of strengthening the protection of consumer rights and interests:
Amend the "Consumer Protection Law" again.
At present, my country's online transactions are developing rapidly, the forms of online consumption are increasingly rich, and new types of online consumption disputes continue to emerge.
Starting from the practical need to better protect online consumers, it is possible to consider amending the "Consumer Rights Protection Law" again, especially to regulate online consumption in new formats such as live broadcast marketing and community group purchases.
Promulgate the "Consumer Rights Protection Law Implementation Regulations" as soon as possible.
Revise the "Administrative Measures for Single-Purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards (for Trial Implementation)" to increase the regulation on online prepaid consumption.
Accelerate the implementation of the small claims system, simplify the dispute handling procedures, reduce the cost of rights protection, and improve the efficiency of dispute handling.
On the basis of summarizing the judgments of relevant cases, the relevant judicial interpretations should be revised in a timely manner to allow claims for damages in consumer civil public interest litigations to meet the practical needs of consumer protection.
Try to design the system rules for consumer class action, and take the lead in implementing this new litigation style in the field of online consumption.
Continue to formulate and improve relevant regulatory rules.
While continuing to strengthen the supervision of traditional e-commerce, explore the methods and measures for the supervision of online consumption in new formats, and try to integrate and establish a special mechanism for coordinated supervision in areas where online consumption disputes are frequent and involve multiple regulatory authorities, so as to be accurate and effective. Supervision.
Strengthen the responsibility of platform regulators.
Supervise and urge online trading platforms to strengthen the management of exaggerated propaganda by operators on the platform.
Strengthen the risk warning of consumer transactions, and proactively provide consumers with accurate information on operators on the platform, transaction evidence and access to rights protection channels for consumer rights protection.
Make full use of advanced technology for supervision.
A more effective online consumer complaint and early warning mechanism should be established, Internet plus supervision and big data processing technologies should be fully utilized, data standards and big data analysis models for online consumer complaints and reports should be established, and accurate consumption risk reminders should be issued in a timely manner.