A Comparative Study On The Cooling-off Period Right In The Law On The Protection Of Consumer Rights And Interests

The "Consumer Protection Act" which newly revised in 2013 provides consumers the "right of return" in the purchase of specific goods or services. The right has great influence on the protection of the consumers’ legal right and the regulation of sellers’ behavior. The "right of return" in china is actually the cooling-off period right in developed countries such as European countries and America. But in our country, we only make simple rules to regulate the "right of return" in the "Consumer Protection Act", without explicit definition and specific norms, which makes it runs without name and explains difficultly. So it is very important to improve the "right of return" for the consumers as soon as possible.The right of cooling-off period tells us that the consumers’has the right to terminate the contract unilaterally and unconditionally,which sighed between consumers and sellers, within a certain period.And it does not need any reason or assume any compensatory fees. The cooling-off period right is the production of market economy, private thoughts progress and weak rights protection. The meaning of the right is to regulate the sellers who owns commodities, to protect consumer groups who are at a disadvantage position and ultimately to achieve a smooth, harmonious and healthy development of the market economy. To establish cooling-off period right in our legal system can not only reasonable and effective regulation of the changing consumption patterns of today, but also has an important role to improve consumer protection system.This paper is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the background, definition and characteristics of the cooling-off period right. And then according to the analysis of our country’s scholars on the nature of the cooling-off period right, the author concludes that cooling-off period right should be included in the system of economic law. At last, the author explains the right from a different point of view. In the second part, the author introduces the characteristics of the cooling-off period right in developed countries, analyzes their characteristics, compares them to the right in china, and finds the difference between home and abroad. The third part uses a specific case and an investigation report as a starting point to analyze the operational status and lacks of the cooling-off period right, and then thinks about how to improve the right, to advice suggestions on the right which has already exists in "Consumer Protection Act", and finally to outlook the establishment of a unique system of consumer protection law.