Research On The Application Of Punitive Damages In Food Safety Public Interest Litigation ——Based On Three Cases Of Food Safety Disputes

With the development of food economy,people’s demand for food quality is getting higher and higher.However,food safety problems such as poisonous rice and poisonous vermicelli have frequently occurred in China,which has triggered a crisis of consumer confidence in the food industry.How to win back the trust of consumers,and how to more effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and protect the public welfare of food safety have become a problem that people have to think deeply.In the judicial practice of food safety public interest litigation in China,the court generally supports punitive damages.However,China ’ s current law does not make specific provisions for the application of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation.At the same time,in practice,there are still some problems such as vague calculation basis of punitive damages,unclear deduction between punitive damages and criminal fines or administrative fines.In order to further explore the application of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation,it is necessary to further explore the problems existing in the application of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation.This paper first combs and refines the controversial issues related to punitive damages in selected food safety consumption public welfare cases.For example,whether punitive damages can be advocated in food safety public interest litigation,how to calculate punitive damages,and whether punitive damages can be offset by criminal or administrative fines.Then this paper carries on the legal principle analysis to the above question and proposes the pointed suggestion in order to provide a useful theoretical reference for solving the problems of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation.The research ideas of this paper are as follows :The first part Starting from the public interest litigation case of Guangdong consumer committee against Li mou and others,the public interest litigation case of Guangdong consumer committee against Shi mou and others,and the public interest litigation case of Gongshu District People’s Procuratorate against Li mou and others,this paper summarizes the existing issues on the application of punitive damages system in food safety public interest litigation,and then sorts out and extracts the main controversial issues.The second part carries on the legal principle analysis to the extracted question of contention.From the perspective of legal source,and practice,it is legitimate to advocate punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation,but the applicable rules of punitive damages in food safety private interest litigation cannot be directly applied.Because the calculation base and multiple of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation are different from those in food safety private interest litigation.And from the perspective of nature,punitive damages do not have the basis of deduction with criminal or administrative fines.The third part puts forward corresponding suggestions for the controversial issues in food safety public interest litigation.Firstly,the relevant civil substantive law should be amended as soon as possible to provide legal basis for the application of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation,clarify the source of rights,and provide institutional support for the improvement of the calculation rules of punitive damages and the construction of processing rules when multiple monetary penalties coexist.Secondly,the determination of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation needs to take sales as the calculation base and set the floating multiple,so that the final determined amount of punitive damages is more consistent with the actual situation of the case.Finally,the liability of criminal or administrative fines can be considered as a factor in determining punitive damages,and it should be made clear that punitive damages should not be deducted from criminal fines or administrative fines.Based on the problems reflected in practice,this paper explores the legal principles behind the problems,and puts forward suggestions accordingly,in order to provide reference for solving the problems existing in the application of punitive damages in food safety public interest litigation.