A Research On The Responsibility Of China’s E-commerce Platform Operators

Before the promulgation and implementation of the "e-commerce law",there were no specific laws governing the liability of e-commerce platform operators in China,but mostly scattered legal provisions,administrative regulations,government opinions and so on.These laws and regulations are often vague and general,which leads to the difficult definition of responsibility and the lack of operability in the juridical practice.Moreover,these scattered regulations are lagging behind the rapid development of online trading platforms and the important legal status of operators of e-commerce platforms.The e-commerce law passed by China in 2018 not only fully affirmed the legal status of e-commerce platform operators,but also reflected the institutional function expansion of platform liability system from indirect responsibility to self-responsibility,from behavior regulation to technology regulation.In view of the increasingly public nature of the platform and the complexity of the legal relationship in the operation process in the future network platform liability system,the analysis and research of its liability system should include the supervision obligation of its own behavior and the responsibility of other subjects encountered in the operation process.Through the exploration of such a responsibility research path to achieve the balance of multiple interests,the final development of the platform responsibility implementation path compatible with market incentives.The first part of this paper is the basic theory of e-commerce platform op erators,covering the evolution process and types of platform operators ’responsi bilities and the requirements of the ‘E-commerce Law’ on platform operators’ responsibilities.Combining the relevant provisions of various laws,explain the evolution of platform operators’ responsibilities from light to heavy and the ty pes of responsibilities covered.The second part of this article is the reasons,principles and methods for platform operators to distinguish between internal and external responsibilities,mainly including the reasons and current status of the expansion of the scope of responsibilities of platform operators,the interpretation,reasons,principles and methods of the division of responsibility research inside and outside.According to thequasi-public nature of the e-commerce platform operators and the complexity of the relevant legal relationships,from the internal and external perspectives,at the two levels of public welfare and private benefits,explain the superiority and inevitability of the division of responsibility system,and build a Systematic responsibility analysis method.The third part of this article is the internal responsibility of the platform operator,that is,the responsibility of self-management,mainly covering the protection of network security,registration and verification,the formulation of service agreements and transaction rules,the recording and preservation of transaction information,and the distinctive logo of self-operated business,etc.Take the protection of network security as an example to start a specific analysis,including the source of responsibility,the specific measures to ensure network security,and the legal responsibilities to be faced.The fourth part of this article is the external responsibility of the platform operator,that is,the responsibility for the related entities other than themselves,mainly covering the platform operators,consumers and intellectual property rights holders.Taking consumer safety as an example to start a specific analysis,including the understanding of "corresponding responsibilities" and platform operators’ specific responsibilities for distribution and responsibility.