Research On The Civil Legal Responsibilities Of E-commerce Platform Operator

The development of high technology has changed the mode of our transactions;the existence of e-commerce platform has removed the obstacle of space;and the increase of our consumption level has brought us to a prosperous era of e-commerce.Although the volume of business is constantly increasing,there are a lot of problems which have existing for a pretty long time and more and more disputes between the dealers and consumers on the platform come to their appearance.As the master and controller of this big data age,also as the bridge between the dealers and consumers,the operator of the platform has the duty and also has the ability to bear the responsibility which should be matched with the interests it has possessed.The purpose of this research is to clarify what responsibility should the e-commerce platform operator take in every business between the dealer and consumer on the platform.The thesis discusses this issue from four aspects:the principal status of the platform operator,current regulations and the classification of the e-commerce platform.After compare and analyze different theories on the legal nature of the platform operator,this thesis is more agree on the doctrine of new legal relation.People would be failed if they try to define the relationship between the operator and its users as buyer-seller relationship,intermediary relationship,agency relationship or any other present relationships.The thesis agrees the legal relationship is a new type,but it also admit that the platform operator is not a new civil subject.For the current regulations about platform responsibility,the thesis expresses its point of view on the understandings of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests Article 44 and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Electronic Commerce Law Article 38.On the bases of that,the thesis believes that the current regulation on the responsibility of the platform operator is recapitulative,while the types of e-commerce platforms are quite different from each other.This may be harmful to the protection of consumers' rights and may lead to some unfair consequences.Hence,this thesis reconsiders and analyzes the platform responsibility from the types of the platform,and believes the result may be more accurate and fair on direct the practice.On the other hand,this thesis also expresses its point of view on the understandings on the legal meanings of B2B/B2C/C2C types on platform.In the end of the main part of the thesis,it lists four suggestions on how to improve the regulations of e-commerce platform operator's responsibility to realize an optimistic and long-term development of the e-commerce platform.