E-commerce operators must conscientiously study the provisions of the "E-commerce Law", improve the service and management in a timely manner in accordance with legal requirements, and earnestly assume legal obligations and responsibilities; hope that relevant government departments will strengthen research. As of December 21, 2017, China Consumers Association received a total of 2064 letters from the national cool cycling bicycle consumers requesting a refund of the deposit, prepayment, and requesting the transfer of criminal clues, and submitted the Criminal Report to the relevant public security organs.
At the same time of explosive growth in China's e-commerce, there are also a variety of chaos: some micro-business false propaganda, promises are not honored; some e-commerce operators brush sales, praise, delete bad reviews, seriously misleading consumers; some platforms The emergence of 'big data killing', causing public dissatisfaction, and so on.
The "E-Commerce Law" will be officially implemented on January 1, 2019 to regulate the chaos in the e-commerce sector and effectively protect consumer rights. On September 25, the China Consumers Association combined the relevant complaints and some cases, The newly introduced "E-commerce Law" is interpreted.
Micro-business is included in management
In the field of e-commerce, the sale of goods through the form of WeChat, live webcast, etc., the provision of services is increasing, and it also brings a lot of new problems of consumer rights protection.
For example, due to the lack of a credit guarantee system for online shops, its entry barrier is low and there is no business license. After a consumer dispute, some micro-businesses directly delete friends or change accounts to evade legal responsibility, and consumer rights are difficult.
In the ninth article of the "Electronic Commerce Law", these new forms and involved subjects are included in the 'other network services', and the use of WeChat friends circle, webcasting, etc. to engage in goods, and service business activities are also e-commerce operators.
This means that through WeChat, online live sales of goods, services will be included in the management. China Consumers Association explained that this will help strengthen the supervision of related fields, and help to better resolve such consumer disputes.
For e-commerce operators to brush sales, brush praise, delete bad reviews and other 'hype letter', 'swipe single' behavior, in order to protect consumers' right to know and the right to choose, the new "E-commerce Law" also proposed a 'prohibition Fictional transactions, fabricating evaluations, platforms must not remove the requirements of evaluations, and clearly define the general obligations of e-commerce operators to disclose information.
For example, Article 17 stipulates: 'E-commerce operators should disclose goods or service information in a comprehensive, true, accurate and timely manner', 'E-commerce operators may not make false or misleading by means of fictitious transactions, making user evaluations, etc. Commercial propaganda, deception, misleading consumers.'
For another example, Article 39 stipulates: 'E-commerce platform operators should establish a sound credit evaluation system and publicize credit evaluation rules', 'Do not delete consumers' evaluation of the products or services provided in their platforms.'
How to deal with big data killing
According to some consumers, booking a hotel online, encountering a platform when booking a vehicle, e-commerce kills.
A consumer named Liao said that he often booked a specific hotel room through a travel service website, and the price per year was around 380 yuan to 400 yuan. Occasionally, he learned through the front desk that the hotel room price was 300 during the off-season. Yuan up and down, after using a friend account to find out, it really is 300 yuan; but use their own account to check, or 380 yuan.
At present, e-commerce operators have accumulated a large number of user personal information, transaction records, etc., and use big data to personally port consumers, purposefully provide search results, and conduct precise marketing. Some platforms even have 'big data killing' The situation caused public dissatisfaction.
To this end, the "E-Commerce Law" clearly stipulates that, first, in the provision of goods for the personal characteristics of consumers, service search results, together with non-targeted options, by providing optional information to protect consumers' right to know, The right to choose. Second, e-commerce operators who send advertisements should also abide by the provisions of the Advertising Law. Third, if the provisions of this article are clearly violated, the market supervision and management department shall order it to make corrections within a time limit, confiscate the illegal income, and may impose a fine.
In addition, since 2017, Wukong, Cool Ride, Xiaoming, Xiaolan and other shared bicycle companies have stopped operating due to financing difficulties and capital chain breaks. Since these shared bicycle companies charge deposits to consumers, most of them violate regulations. The misappropriation of the deposit caused the consumer deposit to be difficult to retreat. As of December 21, 2017, the China Consumers Association received a total of 2064 letters from the national cool cycling bicycle consumers requesting a refund of the deposit, prepayment, and requesting the transfer of criminal clues. The public security organ submitted the "Criminal Report". The deposit is a pledge guarantee for renting a specific subject matter, which is a kind of security interest, and the performance of the main guarantee contract. The ownership of the deposit belongs to the consumer, and the operator may not misappropriate under any circumstances. The newly promulgated "E-commerce Law" clarifies the obligation of e-commerce operators to return the deposit and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. For example, the first is to clearly stipulate that the e-commerce operator should deposit the deposit and express the deposit refund method. Obstacles; the second is to require consumers to apply for a refund of the deposit, if the conditions for return are met, the e-commerce operator shall return it in time; For the method of not returning the deposit in accordance with the regulations, the procedure, if the deposit is returned unreasonably, or if the deposit is not returned in time, the relevant competent department shall order it to make corrections within a time limit, and may impose administrative punishment. If the circumstances are serious, the maximum penalty is 50. A fine of 10,000 yuan or less.
Joint liability of platform operators
Promote the introduction of the new "E-commerce Law" 'The platform operators have not fulfilled their obligations and should bear the responsibility according to law'. There are three typical cases, and these three cases have gradually attracted the attention of the legislative department.
In mid-July 2017, a college graduate, Li, was found guilty of a pyramid scheme through an Internet recruitment platform. Li’s “Beijing Kelan Company” was hired as a “Li Gui” company. The investigation found that this type of investigation The target of recruiters in false positions is mostly college graduates who have just entered the society. They often have a shallow social experience, lack of vigilance against recruiters, and cannot recognize scams.
According to reports, until the incident, the platform still allows the recruiting unit to post the first position on the platform. As long as the data is compliant, it can be issued first. If the user is not triggered, the audit will not be mandatory. This also gives the pyramid sellers The opportunity to take advantage of.
China Consumers Association provided this case as a reference for the National People's Congress as one of the typical cases of network consumption. It is suggested that the platform operators should fulfill their obligations and responsibilities.
Late on the night of May 5 this year, Ms. Li, an airline flight attendant, lost her connection after riding a certain car platform. She was found to have been raped and killed by the driver. Because of the poor management of the driver’s review and the consistent problem of people and vehicles, The night operation of the car did not fulfill the corresponding duty of care, and the handling of consumer complaints was not in place, which caused widespread concern in the society.
On the 22nd of the month, China Consumers Association held a symposium on “Promoting Safe Consumption of Net Cars”, urging operators of network car platforms to implement legal obligations and responsibilities, and called on the legislature to further clarify and refine the relevant regulations of platform operators and strengthen consumption. Protection of the platform, preventing platform operators from evading due obligations and responsibilities. Under the joint promotion of all sectors of society, the three drafts of the "E-commerce Law" stipulate that the platform operators do not do anything about the goods or services that are related to consumers' life and health. If the audit obligation, security obligation, causing consumer damage, and the operator within the platform shall be jointly and severally liable.
On August 24, Ms. Zhao, a 20-year-old woman from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, was raped and killed by the driver Zhongmou after taking the same network car platform. According to reports, when the abnormality was found, the platform lacked convenient and effective emergency rescue methods, and it was not timely. Assisting Zhao relatives and friends, the police provided driver information, especially the day before the incident, there were other consumers complaining that the driver had misconduct, but was not taken seriously by the platform.
On the 27th of the month, the “E-Commerce Law (Draft)” entered the final stage of review. The four drafts of the draft will address the goods or services related to consumers’ life and health. The platform operators have not fulfilled their audit obligations, and the responsibility for security guarantees is The three drafts of the review of the 'in accordance with the law and the operators in the platform to assume joint responsibility' were revised to 'take the corresponding supplementary responsibility', which greatly reduced the responsibility of the platform operators, is not conducive to the protection of consumer rights, once again triggered social hot debate The China Consumers Association said that it is recommended that the three drafts of the draft review should be accompanied by the provisions of the joint operators in accordance with the law.
After the China Consumers Association and the community call for it, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress attaches great importance to this. After repeated weighing, the newly introduced Article 38, paragraph 2 of the Electronic Commerce Law finally clarifies that under such circumstances, the platform operators' According to the law, Yang Heqing, deputy director of the Economic Law Office of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, answered questions on the relevant issues of the "E-commerce Law" and assumed corresponding responsibilities according to the law, including the platform operators failing to fulfill the above obligations, according to If the "Rit Liability Law" and other laws constitute a joint infringement, it shall bear joint and several liability.
For this modification, the China Consumers Association explained that for the goods or services that are related to consumers' life and health, the bottom line responsibility of the operators should be strengthened to ensure the safety of consumers.
In addition to the above-mentioned civil liability, the E-Commerce Law also stipulates that if the platform has relevant illegal acts, it must also bear administrative responsibility and criminal responsibility according to law. This modification mainly considers that the platform operators have not fulfilled the above obligations. The situation is more complicated and needs to be specifically identified according to the actual situation. This requires the relevant judicial authorities, the regulatory authorities to comprehensively consider various factors, in accordance with the law, according to the illegal situation, make a specific judgment.
For the upcoming "E-Commerce Law", China Consumers Association appeals: E-commerce operators should conscientiously study the provisions of the "E-commerce Law", improve service and management in a timely manner in accordance with legal requirements, and earnestly assume legal obligations and responsibilities; Strengthen research, issue relevant regulations and regulations as soon as possible, refine relevant laws and regulations, strengthen supervision and enforcement, and strengthen protection for consumers; I hope relevant judicial organs can study and promulgate relevant judicial interpretations as soon as possible in conjunction with the provisions of the E-commerce Law and judicial trials. 4. Unify the concept and scale of the referee, and promote the good connection between the judiciary and the legislation.