A Study Of The Consumer Public Interest Litigation System

Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation in our country means that China consumers’ association, consumers’ association at or above the provincial level lodge a public interest litigation to people’s court which the behavior of producers,operators infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of numerous consumers. Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation’s characteristics is the protection of the dualism of interests, the particularity of prosecution main body, the social impact of a disputed point, the particularity of res litigiosa’s money,the preventability of interests which are damaged and so on. Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation is beneficial to protect fair trading rights of consumers,to fight against the illegal action of the large enterprises, to make up for the deficiency of the administrative law enforcement. There exist many problems in Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation’s system in our country. In terms of the system of the subject of litigation, it shows the positioning of consumer is unclear, the independence of the consumer society is not strong and the professionalism of the consumer association is insufficient. In terms of legal proceedings, it shows the suit subject is limited, The burden of proof to be shared is not reasonable, effect of scope is unknown, the court acceptance fee to be shared is unreasonable,the statute of limitations is not clear. In terms of litigation security system, it embodis the funds of Consumer society public interest litigation is insufficient,consumer society public interest litigation is lack of incentive mechanism. Based on above aspects, Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation’s system in our country need to be improved from the followings. For the system of the subject of litigation, the status of independent non-governmental organizations of consumers’ association should be cleared, the professionalism of consumers’ association should be improved. For legal proceedings, it should be broaden the scope of suit subject,practise reversion of burden of proof, expand the scope of effect of scope, distribute the court acceptance fee reasonablely, extense the statute of limitations. For litigation security system, it should be established a system of Consumers Association Public Interest Litigation’s legal aid funds and reward.