The Legal Research On The Compulsory Liability Insurance Of Food Safety

Currently, the United States, Europe, Japan and Taiwan, China have brought compulsory liability insurance of food safety into the law, establishing compulsory liability insurance of food safety system. Practical experiences in various countries and regions have proved the following functions of compulsory liability insurance of food safety:to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and to rescue victims reasonably and timely; to effectively disperse and transfer compensation risks for persons liable for food safety incidents, to strengthen firm’s ability to cope with various urgent accidents and to guarantee corporations involved in the accidents to carry on; to convert the roles of government, to reduce the pressure of government aid and to guarantee the government to perform the basic functions with sufficient energy.In recent years, the frequently occurred food safety incidents have brought serious harmful consequences and therefore it is necessary to establish systems of compulsory liability insurance of food safety as soon as possible. The compulsory liability insurance system of food safety has not yet established in China. System establishment and relevant theories supplement each other while domestic theoretical studies on relevant legal issues of the above system are far from sufficient. Therefore, to explore the compulsory liability insurance system from the legal perspective based on domestic situations in order to lay the legal basis for the entire establishment and implementation of the system has great practical significance for China’s food safety and insurance business. Based on the above information, the author discusses the conception, the necessity and the feasibility of liability insurance of food safety, and theoretical knowledge such as basic legal relationship. This paper emphasizes the necessity and the feasibility of liability insurance of food safety and offers suggestions on the perfection of legal safeguard mechanisms and the establishment of supporting systems.The very nature of compulsory liability insurance system of food safety determines that it is a system of risk-transferring and damage-compensation with unique advantages in terms of rights-rescuing and risk-sharing. It can both effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and provides risk management methods for food production enterprises. Furthermore, it is beneficial for the government to convert their roles in accidents and thus to alleviate social conflicts and maintain social harmony and stability. Given the current situation of domestic food safety, it is essential for food industry to introduce in the compulsory liability insurance system of food safety either from the perspective of safeguarding the legitimate interests of the victims or in terms of revitalizing of the food industry and maintaining social harmony and stability.