The Improvement Of The Litigation System Of Consumer Groups

With the rapid development of Socialist market economy, large amounts cases of group disputes as environmental pollution, consumer protection, product liability, and other disputes in other field are continually growing. In recent years, consumers in China suffer infringement from many aspects, which occur frequently with the continuous improvement of the consumption level, such as in the field of products and service. What’s more, there already have been a tendency of expansion. In contract, however, our national consumer groups rarely use the litigation system. According to the civil procedure law of our nation, the rule to solve the cases which involve numerous quantity of people who claim for damages with the same stakes is the representative system. However, when victims sue to the court according to this rule, the result is not so well. Even the trial ends, it is also difficult to enforce in practice. This situation makes the demands of consumer groups difficult to achieve, just like oral checks. In this case, consumers will appeal to higher authorities for help, which will lead the breakdown of civil order. Considering all these facts, some courts will put the representative lawsuit system aside, making it more difficult for the consumers to appeal to the court, which enters into a vicious circle with such repeat. Therefore, all sectors of the community have different opinions on the policies which should be used by the group action.In 2012, the civil procedure law conducted a large-scale reform, in which the representative litigation hasn’t been changed, but the regulation of "consumer public interest litigation" and perfection of public interest litigation system by the civil judicial interpretation get the research of consumer group litigation system into a new era. On the basis of comparing and analyzing the consumer group litigation system of foreign countries, the representative litigation and consumer public interest litigation of our nation, the article tries to perfect the consumer group litigation system. There are four parts in this article.Part One:The related theory of the consumer group litigation system. This part mainly talks about the definition, the value and function of the consumer group litigation system. On the basis of comparing the definition of the consumer group litigation system, Class Action and consumer public interest litigation, analyzing the characteristics and significance of the consumer group litigation system, this part concludes the similarities of the value and function of the consumer group litigation system of all countries. Through the introduction and summary of these theories, it embodies profound in the research value and existing significance.Part Two:The foreign investigation on the consumer group litigation system. Focus on the Representative Action in Britain, the Class Action in America, the group litigation in Germany and the selective litigation in Japan. Through comparing and analyzing the similarities and differences of the three typical consumer group litigation systems, this part will explore the significance of reference to China.Part Three:Analysis of the current situation of the consumer group litigation system in China. Each of the two systems in China (the representative litigation and consumer public interest litigation) are analyzed in this part. Point out the problems of the two systems in practice. Start with these problems and provide a basis for the improvement of the consumer group litigation system in China of value.Part Four:Suggestions on the improvement of the consumer group litigation system. In the application of the law, necessary legislation and system improvement are indispensable. The improvement of settlement of the consumer group litigation system are not accomplished in an action, it needs the cooperation of various forces. Based on the summary of the above, the article puts forward some own thoughts and prospect theory.