Determination Of Security Obligations Of Operators Of E-commerce Platforms

China is one of the countries with the fastest development of e-commerce and the largest market scale.Before the introduction of the "E-commerce Law",consumers’ legitimate rights and interests on Internet platforms were mainly protected through the "Tort Liability Law","Consumer Rights Protection Law",and "Food Safety Law".The Electronic Commerce Law,which came into effect on January 1,2019,provides a legal response to the frequent infringement issues in the field of electronic commerce.It summarizes the legislative experience of other legal provisions on the regulation of infringement in online platforms,and plays an important role in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of electronic commerce subjects and regulating the order of the electronic commerce market.Article 38 of the Electronic Commerce Law stipulates the security obligations of operators of e-commerce platforms,but the expression of this article is relatively vague.Therefore,it is necessary to analyze the scope,degree of performance,and form of responsibility of operators of e-commerce platforms to provide a basis for judicial decisions.This article is divided into four parts:The first part summarizes the focus of controversy by introducing four typical cases.In judicial practice,the differences between judges on the security obligations of e-commerce platform operators include the scope and degree of performance of the security obligations,and the form of responsibility for failing to fulfill the security obligations.The second part explains the basic theory of the security obligations of e-commerce platform operators.The legal status of e-commerce platform operators is an independent intermediary service provider,and their nature is legal obligations.There are significant differences between the security obligations of e-commerce platform operators and physical space operators in terms of the subject of rights,implementation methods,risk sources for prevention,and responsibility assumption.The third part analyzes the current situation and dilemmas of e-commerce platform operators’ security obligations.Through case statistics,it summarizes the dilemmas of e-commerce platform operators’ security obligations in practice,including: in terms of legal application,there are conflicts between the Electronic Commerce Law and other legal provisions;The law does not clarify the scope,boundary,and degree of fulfillment of the security obligations of e-commerce platform operators;In the e-commerce environment,it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights due to their weak position and the difficulty in establishing certification standards;The vague expression of "corresponding responsibility" has led to differences in the accountability patterns of e-commerce platform operators in judicial practice.The fourth part proposes suggestions for improving the identification of e-commerce platform operators’ security obligations.The content of e-commerce platform operators’ security obligations includes ensuring network security,qualification review,warning notification,and timely assistance;Based on the principle of legal standards,supplemented by agreement standards,and combined with reasonableness standards,judge the performance of e-commerce platform operators’ security obligations in specific cases;The burden of proof is borne by consumers,but considering the probative capacity of consumers and e-commerce platform operators,it is appropriate to require e-commerce platform operators to bear a portion of the burden of proof.The form of liability for e-commerce platform operators failing to fulfill their safety and security obligations should be configured with supplementary liability as the basic liability,bearing joint and several liability in the case of joint infringement and special law provisions,excluding the application of partial liability.