Research On The Application Of Punitive Damages In Consumer Civil Public Interest Litigation

With the rapid development of China's economy,the consumption structure is also constantly upgrading,and the phenomenon of infringement of consumer rights and social public interests in the consumer field is also emerging.How can we better protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers,and protect the public Interests of the country and society has sparked people's thinking.In this context,China's consumer civil public interest litigation has emerged as the times require.However,China's legislation does not establish the punitive compensation system that can be applied in consumer civil public interest litigation.With the continues emergence of disputes in judicial practice,this issue has also attracted the attention of China's legal theory community.In Guangdong "fake salt" series of cases,the court for the first time in the consumer civil public interest litigation,supported the public interest litigation plaintiffs to file punitive damages.The judgment has ice-breaking significance,breaks through the limit of judicial interpretation,opens up a new way to safeguard the rights and interests of consumers,and also forces the operator to operate in good faith,which is of great significance to maintain the consumption order and build a harmonious society.However,a series of application issue such as whether punitive compensation can be raised in consumer civil public interest litigation,how to calculate,whether to deduct fines and their attribution,still needs to be solved in a unified way in legislation and justice.Starting from the Guangdong "fake salt" series of cases,this paper summarizes the current situation of judicial practice,finds the main existing disputes and problems,and analyzing the reasons,it is believed that the reason for the above problems is that China's legislation does not apply clear provisions on punitive damages in consumer civil public interest litigation,not fully respect the particularity of consumer civil public interest litigation.,and the judiciary's lack of understanding of punitive damages.On this basis,the paper conducts research on the basic theories of punitive damages and consumer civil public interest litigation,and finds that punitive damagesand consumer civil public interest litigation are functionally compatible,and there is a trend of mutual integration in development and change.Then it expounds the practical significance of punitive damages in consumer civil public interest litigation,and clarifies the necessity of the application of punitive compensation in consumer civil public interest litigation.Based on the existing system foundation,practice and theoretical exploration,and the proposal of "Exploring the establishment of a food safety civil public interest litigation punitive damages system",the paper also analyzes the feasibility of applying punitive damages in consumer civil public interest litigation,and then puts forward the views on the system construction of punitive damages in consumer civil public interest litigation.