As the first country in the world to put forward the concept of consumer rights, the United States has now formed a complete consumer rights protection system including legal system, organization and supervision mechanism. To sum up, this system has four main characteristics:
First, the government and the people join hands. In the United States, there are not only federal, state and local government agencies, but also many private or industrial groups engaged in consumer protection. Government agencies such as the US Federal Trade Commission have the right to receive complaints, conduct investigations, impose penalties and apply legal procedures when necessary. Non-governmental organizations, such as the American Consumers' Union, usually provide consumers with information services such as legal advice and consumer guides, and put forward opinions and suggestions to government agencies.
Second, pay attention to protecting the health and safety of consumers. In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Committee established by the federal government formulates standards and regulations on consumer product safety and supervises their implementation. Another federal agency, the Food and Drug Administration, is responsible for managing drugs, food, biological products, cosmetics, medical devices and diagnostic supplies throughout the country.
Third, complaints are simple and channels are smooth. If consumers want to complain, they can complain by phone, letter, email or in person. Institutions or organizations engaged in consumer rights protection have their own websites with office locations, contact information and even contact names.
The fourth is strict law enforcement. The United States protects consumers' rights and interests with the help of laws. On the one hand, strictly enforce existing laws and regulations, standardize production and business activities, and crack down on monopoly, fraud and other illegal acts. On the other hand, it pays attention to providing convenient judicial services for consumers. The small claims court is an example of the latter.
Canadian consumer rights protection
In Canada, consumers' rights and interests are mainly protected by provincial legislation. First of all, if consumers want to know their rights and interests, they must understand the basic concepts of contracts, such as offer and acceptance, the purpose and reason of contracts, and so on. There are different types of consumer contracts:
(1) Simple shopping contract: The law stipulates that the goods should conform to the quality of the goods sold, but if the buyer has inspected the purchased goods when shopping and the defects of the goods are obvious, it is another matter.
(2) Ordering goods: The law stipulates that the goods shall conform to the explanatory materials or samples provided by the seller to the buyer at the time of ordering.
(3) Goods or services for door-to-door sales: This kind of contract law has special control. For example, British Columbia's Consumer Protection Law stipulates that the buyer has the right to terminate the contract within 7 days after signing the contract, and the seller must return all the money within 15 days after receiving the notice.
(4) Prepaid service contract: For example, the membership fees of general beauty and bodybuilding centers or the tuition fees for dancing are prepaid in exchange for the services that can be obtained in the future. These contracts are also stipulated in British Columbia's Consumer Protection Act, which allows consumers to cancel signed contracts within 7 days after receiving them. At the same time, the term of this contract should not exceed two years.
Finally, the definition of consumer does not include legal suppliers and distributors.
Consumer arbitration in Australia
Australia attaches importance to safeguarding consumer rights through arbitration. Australia has institutions specializing in small claims arbitration. According to the Australian Consumer Claims Arbitration Tribunal Regulations implemented by the Australian federal government on July 1973, Australia's first consumer claims arbitration tribunal was established in Queensland. Later, similar institutions were established in various states, among which Tasmania called it "Small Claims Office" and Victoria and Western Australia called it "Small Claims Office".
The arbitration tribunal for consumer claims has the right to accept applications for statutory compensation (not limited to consumer disputes) filed by natural persons, private enterprises, joint-stock enterprises, exempted holding companies, unincorporated organizations, enterprise federations and other entities, and may make an award with a value not exceeding 25,000 Australian dollars in this case. If consumers want to settle consumer claims disputes through the arbitration court, they need to bring a lawsuit to the arbitration court registry or the local court and fill in the relevant forms. If the consumer files a claim with the local court, the secretary of the court will ensure that the lawsuit is immediately transferred to the consumer claim arbitration tribunal. Some arbitration institutions of the Australian government are free, while other paid arbitration institutions charge very low fees, ranging from A $270,000 to A $654,380+050 and A $250,000.
Another official institution in Australia is called "Complaint Ambassador", which originated in Northern Europe and has considerable power to investigate and make decisions on major issues. This institution was approved by the Australian Parliament.
Consumer arbitration in New Zealand
There are many arbitration institutions in New Zealand. In addition to some comprehensive arbitration institutions, there are arbitration institutions in many industries, such as banks and insurance. There are also quotas for applying for arbitration, such as SGD 20,000 for electricity and SGD 654.38 million+SGD for banks. Arbitrators are mainly lawyers, but not limited to lawyers. For example, a socially recognized impartial person, such as a "sheriff", can also become an arbitrator. Through arbitration, consumers and operators can reach a * * * understanding, which can be final. Neither party can go back on our word or appeal.
All arbitration institutions in New Zealand do not charge consumers. The source of funds for arbitration institutions mainly depends on the annual fees paid by operators according to regulations. For example, the power arbitration institution will charge a certain fee to the power company every year. If there is a complaint from the company in that year, the fee that the company has to pay to the arbitration institution will increase in the second year. The more complaints, the more money will be paid to the arbitration institution.
Consumer Research Institute of New Zealand and Consumer Association of Australia do not directly handle consumer complaints, but mainly provide consumers with consumer information and legal advisory services. This is because the channels for solving consumer complaints in the two countries are diversified, and there are at least seven ways to deal with and mediate consumer disputes, namely, reconciliation between consumers and operators, mediation by trade associations, mediation by intermediaries, civil arbitration, small arbitration courts and court decisions. Because both countries belong to the maritime law system, many civil mediation or judgment results are final and authoritative, so in Australia and New Zealand, a large number of consumer complaints can be solved through the above channels.
—— (China Guomen Times)
The practice of protecting consumers' rights and interests abroad and its enlightenment to us.
The legal system is sound. If the fact that consumers' rights and interests are infringed becomes a common social problem, it must be solved through legislation. Therefore, the United States, Canada and Japan have many individual laws and regulations to protect the rights and interests of consumers. For example, there are dozens of laws related to the protection of consumers' rights and interests in Canada, such as consumer protection law, business conduct law, prepaid service law, motor vehicle repair law, loan guarantee law, consumer report law, cemetery management law and so on. , from the initial quality, measurement, price, safety, health and other fields to credit cards, interest rates, environmental protection and other new fields. For another example, the legal system of consumer protection in the United States was established earlier and more perfect. There is no basic law on consumer protection in the United States, and many single written laws and a large number of long-term accumulated cases constitute the legislative system of consumer protection in the United States. At the same time, once the bill is promulgated, the government should check the implementation every year to ensure that it really plays a role in protecting consumers' rights and interests after legislation. For example, Japan's consumer legislation is more advanced. In 2004, the name of the Basic Law on Consumer Protection was changed to the Basic Law on Consumers, from "protection" to "helping them stand on their own feet", and from the position of protecting the weak to "taking care of the age and characteristics of consumers", which made great changes in the fundamental policy.
Pay attention to publicity and education. In the United States, almost all government law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations and self-regulatory agencies that protect consumers' rights and interests have newspapers, publications, brochures and websites, and most of them are given to consumers free of charge. The website of California Consumer Affairs Department hits 3 million times a month; Educational publications are issued by thousands every month. The Consumer Report magazine of the American Consumers Union has a circulation of 4 million copies in the United States. This magazine does not publish commercial advertisements or promote any company, and enjoys a high reputation among readers.
Pay attention to product spot checks and experiments. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission in San Francisco has dozens of staff members, who directly inspect thousands of products on the market every year, accounting for more than 1/4 of the total number of consumer products under the jurisdiction of the Commission, and usually handle hundreds of spot checks and complaints throughout the year. The handling of the case is based on the data detected by the laboratory, and the handling of the case is fair, scientific and reliable. The American Consumers' Union has 50 laboratories specializing in comparative experiments, which are then released to consumers through magazines, special issues and the Internet, becoming an important part of consumer education. 1974 set up Japan Comparative Test Center, 1980 set up commodity comparative test base and training center in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. There are three experimental buildings in the commodity comparison test area, including clothing laboratory, food laboratory, environment room, living room, flammability test room, household appliance explosion laboratory, automobile and bicycle laboratory. The tests mainly include case tests, batch case tests, comparative tests and commissioned tests. The period from the project establishment and testing to the announcement of the results of each commodity comparison test is about half a year, and the number of brands compared in each commodity comparison test shall not be less than 5.
Strengthen the work of accepting complaints and impose heavy penalties. Ontario, Canada has a relatively large population of 33 million people, including Ontario120,000 people and Toronto, the provincial capital, with 5.5 million people. There are 13 people in charge of complaint consultation in the Consumer Affairs Protection Department, handling 76,000 complaints every year and answering telephone calls 1800 times a day. The business volume is relatively large. In order to increase the punishment for violations of consumers' rights and interests, Canada revised the relevant contents of the competition law in 1996, which changed the civil liability of false advertisements and misleading advertising into criminal liability, and increased the punishment for such acts. According to the responsibilities entrusted by law, the Consumer Protection Bureau of Ontario, Canada has great powers. For example, if an enterprise infringes on consumers' rights and interests and mediation fails, it can directly take the enterprise to court; According to the North American Trade Agreement, if there is fraud involving other countries, the Consumer Protection Department has the same right as the police to conduct transnational investigations.