China Consumers' coordinated investigation shows that the phenomenon of unfair standard terms is still common in consumer life, involving a wide range of fields, concealing infringement methods, and having a great impact on consumers.
The China Consumers Association suggested that to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in standard contract transactions, a whole-chain consumer rights protection system should be established before and after the event.
□ Our reporter Wan Jing
In order to improve the consumer experience, discover unfair standard terms in the consumption field, promote the governance of unfair standard terms, and maintain consumption fairness, the China Consumers Association launched a consumer awareness survey and clue collection on unfair standard terms in the consumption field in June this year. Activity.
The China Consumers' coordination investigation shows that the phenomenon of unfair standard terms is still common in consumer life, involving a wide range of fields, concealing means of infringement, and having a great impact on consumers.
87.88% of consumers have encountered unfair standard terms. After encountering unfair standard terms, more than 70% of consumers still choose to continue trading. The main reason is that the operator is too strong and consumers are forced to agree to the standard terms. Transaction cannot be continued.
When most consumers encounter unfair consumption, they can choose the right channels for consumer rights protection.
However, nearly one-fifth of the respondents chose to "endure in silence", indicating that the high cost of rights protection and the unsatisfactory effect of rights protection make consumers lack confidence in rights protection.
Unfair format terms are more common
In the cognitive survey and clue collection activities carried out by the China Consumers Association in June this year, a total of 367 cases of "unfair standard terms" clues were received from consumers, mainly focusing on online shopping, online games, education and training, communication services, housing Decoration, medical beauty and other industries.
According to a survey by the China Consumers Association, nearly 90% (87.88%) of respondents have encountered unfair standard terms, indicating that unfair standard terms are more common in consumer life.
Online shopping is a “hardest hit” for consumers to encounter unfair terms and conditions. It mainly occurs in links involving online shopping promotions, coupon use, returns and refunds, and delivery dates. For example, products with discounts or discounts cannot be returned, and sellers do not Standard terms such as delivery or forced cancellation of orders, non-refundable coupons, etc.
The problems are manifested in disputes arising from the communication between consumers and operators, operators shirk or reduce their own responsibilities, and evade the obligations that operators should perform under the Consumer Protection Law.
The China Consumers Association pointed out that the manifestations of online shopping cases are complex, which shows that the damage to consumers' rights and interests in this field is complex and diverse, and the operators' awareness of compliance needs to be strengthened.
Education and training is an industry that has received more complaints and rights protection from consumers recently.
With the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, various problems such as "chicken baby" and "involution" in the subject education and training industry have been effectively contained, and the market has gradually transformed into "quality education" and "vocational education".
However, problems such as irregular business behaviors in the course of education and training, random changes of contracts by merchants, and various obstacles for refunds have seriously affected the consumption experience of consumers.
In the education and training industry, the problems of unfair standard terms encountered by consumers are mainly manifested in the following phenomena: the verbal agreement replaces the formal contract or the content of the standard contract can only be seen after payment; There are many standard clauses that increase consumer responsibility, limit consumer rights, and exempt operators from responsibility.
The medical beauty service industry is one of the industries that has developed rapidly in recent years. Everyone has a love for beauty, but with the addition of the word "medicine", for consumers, the qualifications and technical means of medical beauty service operators There is no doubt about the importance of the safety level of the medical beauty products and equipment used.
Among the cases collected by the China Consumers' Coordination Survey, there are some merchants who fail to fully and clearly explain the efficacy and operation procedures of medical and aesthetic products to consumers during sales, while ignoring consumers' right to know and their right to choose.
Some medical and aesthetic businesses often use medical terminology or health benefits to "routine" consumers in their contract terms.
There are also merchants that stipulate that if a refund is made, only a new agreement can be cancelled to cancel the "overlord clause" of the original agreement.
High cost of rights protection, unsatisfactory effect
In market transactions, due to the constraints of information asymmetry and limited professional level, consumers are often in a weak position compared with businesses, and their rights are easily violated.
According to the survey results of China Consumers and Consumers Coordination, after encountering unfair standard terms, more than 70% of consumers still choose to continue trading.
Such respondents are the largest, accounting for 41.78%.
Followed by the number of people who chose "unfair format clauses were discovered after disputes occurred", accounting for 25.34%.
The above two reasons accounted for more than two-thirds.
The China Consumers Association also conducted a survey on consumers' understanding of the "standard terms".
The results showed that 52.6% of the respondents were "very familiar" and "relatively familiar" with the standard terms, and 18.84% were "not very familiar" and "very familiar", indicating that consumers' understanding of the standard terms was relatively low. high level.
Regarding the rationality of "standard terms", nearly 50% of the respondents chose "unreasonable" or "very unreasonable", indicating that consumers still believe that the unreasonable phenomenon in standard terms is still relatively serious.
Even though the above survey results show that consumers have a clear and rational understanding of "standard terms", nearly one-fifth of the respondents still choose to "endure in silence" after suffering unfair treatment, indicating that in actual consumption The high cost of rights protection and the unsatisfactory effect of rights protection make consumers lack confidence in rights protection. At the same time, it also shows that due to insufficient laws and regulations and inadequate supervision and enforcement, consumers are slack in rights protection.
In this regard, Professor Liu Junhai, vice-chairman of the China Consumers Association, vice-chairman and secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, believes that it is difficult for consumers to safeguard their rights, because the procedures for safeguarding their rights are cumbersome and the process of safeguarding their rights is lengthy.
The object of consumer rights protection may usually be commodities worth less than 100 yuan, but they need to provide various evidences, including expensive appraisal fees, to support the completion of the entire rights protection process.
At the same time, when consumers, as individuals, are infringed on their rights and interests when consuming, they are only alone against the entire business or enterprise.
Compared with individual consumers, businesses and enterprises are often financially strong and rich in information resources.
Although there is a list of the purpose of purchase and consumption, consumers have relatively little information about the items to be consumed, and the professionalism of businesses and enterprises in this regard is unmatched by consumers.
The above-mentioned reasons have objectively caused the difficulty of consumer rights protection.
Vigorously promote the format contract template
Standardizing standard terms is an important means to promote fairness in consumption, and it is also an important measure to make consumers willing and dare to consume.
To this end, the China Consumers Association suggests that to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in standard contract transactions, a full-chain consumer rights protection system should be established before and after the event.
First, operators must enhance their sense of fairness and responsibility, and abide by the principles of fairness and integrity.
As a standard contract provider, the operator must abide by the principles of fairness and good faith stipulated in the Civil Code, reasonably determine the rights and obligations of the contract, abide by the commitment, and formulate contract terms with clear semantics, reasonable and fair.
At the same time, the operator should fulfill the obligation of prompting and explaining.
According to the requirements of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, when operators use the standard terms of the contract, they are obliged to draw the attention of consumers in a conspicuous way and explain the contents in accordance with their requirements; operators shall not use the format Unfair and unreasonable provisions for consumers shall be made by means of clauses, etc., and standard clauses shall not be used to force transactions by means of technical means.
Second, we must vigorously promote the format contract model.
Consumer organizations, industry organizations, and relevant regulatory authorities may, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, issue and update standard contract templates in a timely manner for specific industries or fields.
Recently, the "National Contract Model Text Library" developed and constructed by the State Administration for Market Regulation has been launched, which brings together more than 400 contract model texts formulated by market supervision departments, and provides special risk warnings for legal issues that may be encountered in different transaction scenarios. .
Therefore, we should continue to actively promote the standard contract model, guide operators to strengthen the legal awareness of the contract, further standardize the content of the standard terms, and ensure that the rights and obligations of both parties to the contract are fair and reasonable.
At the same time, it is necessary to improve the implementation of the format contract filing system.
Implementing the filing system for standard contracts can urge the makers of standard contracts to fulfill their fair obligations.
Relevant industry organizations or other commercial groups that formulate standard contract texts on their own shall file them with the relevant departments, and at the same time make public access to the system to facilitate public supervision.
In addition, consumers should improve their awareness of contracts and rights protection.
The survey shows that a large number of consumers are not aware of contracts when consuming, and they will choose to be forced to accept them when they encounter unfair standard terms.
To this end, the China Consumers Association suggests that consumers should improve their awareness of contracts, strengthen self-protection when signing standard terms, and fully understand the standard contracts they have signed.
Consumers should carefully read the terms of the contract before consuming. For clauses that exempt or reduce the operator's responsibility or have a major interest in the consumer, they may require the operator to comply with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code and the Consumer Rights Protection Law. be explained.
Because the operator fails to perform the obligation of prompting or explaining, and the consumer does not understand the content of the clause that has a major interest in himself, the consumer can claim to the operator that the clause is invalid.
When there is a dispute between the two parties on the standard terms, consumers should actively claim their rights and communicate with the operator first. If the communication fails, the consumer can keep relevant evidence and complain to the market supervision department or consumer association where the operator is located, or to People's Court to prosecute.