The protection of consumer rights is related to every consumer who purchases, uses, and receives services. It is closely related to people’s lives, work, and learning. It is important for the healthy competition between producers and operators and the virtuous circle of the domestic economy. Meaning, therefore modern countries have placed the protection of consumer rights in an important position. After China's accession to the WTO, Chinese enterprises are in full compliance with the world, and the perfect consumer rights protection system in foreign countries poses a major challenge to domestic industries. Therefore, we need to further understand and research consumer rights and protection. This article tries to discuss the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers from the perspective of product packaging.
I. Contents of legal rights of consumers
Consumers are almost every social role that every person plays. They are individuals who obtain or use loans, purchase goods or services to meet the needs or consumption of individuals or families. With the development of large-scale socialized production in the world, the protection of consumer rights and interests has increasingly become a world-famous topic. The extent to which consumer rights can be guaranteed by the country’s legal system has become a symbol of the degree of civilization in modern countries. one.
The protection of interests through the provision of rights is a general law of legislation. Consumer rights refer to the inalienable rights that a country’s laws provide or confirm when citizens purchase, use, or receive services for the purpose of living. The contents of national laws and confirmed consumer rights are not exactly the same, but the basic content and spirit are roughly the same. US President Kennedy’s “Special Presidential Address on Protecting the Interests of Consumers†submitted to Congress on March 15, 1962 clearly stated at the earliest that the four rights that should be protected by consumers were: the right to security; the right to information; the right to choose; right. In 1969, President Nixon added the fifth right, the right to claim. Since then, consumer rights protection laws in all countries in the world have basically used these five rights as basic consumer rights.
China adopted and passed the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests on October 31, 1993, which clearly stipulated nine consumer rights. That is, 1 security rights; 2 know the right; 3 the right to choose independently; 4 fair trade rights; 5 legal claims; 6 according to the right of association; 7 to obtain the right to know; 8 personality dignity, national customs and habits are respected right; 9 supervision and Criticism and suggestion right.
Second, product packaging protection of the legitimate rights and interests of consumers
According to the "Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive" passed by the EU Council in December 1994, packaging refers to "all expendable resources used to dress, protect, control, transport, and display goods", including candy boxes, plastic bags, and direct packaging. Labels tied to merchandise, etc. Good packaging is a symbol of the country's economy, technology, culture and arts. Only properly packaged goods can be properly transported, stored and used after the goods enter the circulation and consumption fields. As the last important process in the production process, packaging also plays an irreplaceable role in providing qualified products and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, which is mainly reflected in the protection of consumers' right to security and knowing rights.
1. Right to security
In 1993, the "Consumer Protection Law" first elaborated on the connotation of consumer security rights in the form of laws, that is, "the consumers enjoy the safety of personal and property safety when they purchase, use, and receive services. "Rights" and "consumers have the right to require the operators to provide goods and services, in line with the requirements of the protection of personal and property safety." According to this, consumer security rights can be divided into security and security requirements according to different priorities. As far as consumers are concerned, consumption activities can be carried out smoothly only if their lives, health and property are not compromised, so as to further realize the other benefits that he enjoys. Therefore, the right to security is the primary and most basic right of the consumer. The precondition for consumers to enjoy other rights. The United Nations General Assembly’s unanimous adoption of the UN Guidelines for the Protection of Consumers in 1985 also made it a primary provision to “protect the health and safety of consumers from harmâ€.
The product packaging is in direct contact with the product and is purchased as part of the product. The U.S. Uniform Commercial Code stipulates that “according to the requirements of the contract, properly packing, packaging, and tagging the goods is one of the requirements for the marketable quality of the goodsâ€. Therefore, the safety of product packaging is the first barrier to protect consumer safety. The currently popular "green packaging" is a concrete embodiment of the protection of consumer security rights. In the development of green packaging, EU countries are at the forefront of the world, mainly through product packaging, labeling legislation. In another example, the US Customs wants to check whether the goods have special marks or labels required by the customs; the Japanese Food Sanitation Law requires that the containers and packaging of vinyl chloride resin must undergo specific experimental procedures to determine cadmium and lead; The "Cosmetic Law" requires the prohibition of the use of hay and straw on packages of medicines and cosmetics; there are licenses and labels for medicines and cosmetics.
Chapter 9 of the “Consumer Protection Law of the People's Republic of China†stipulates nine obligations of the operator, which include “The nine major obligations of the operator, which include “Authentic explanations to consumers about goods and services that may jeopardize the safety of people and property. And clear warnings, and explain and indicate the correct use of goods or methods.†And the specific requirements of the safety requirements of packaging materials. Article 20 of the “Clean Production Law†stipulates: “The design of products and packaging should consider its impact on human health and the environment during the life cycle, giving priority to programs that are non-toxic, harmless, easily degradable, or easy to recycle; Enterprises should rationally package their products and reduce the excessive use of packaging materials and the generation of packaging waste." Article 17 of the "Solid Waste Environmental Protection and Prevention Law" stipulates: "Products should be easy to recycle, easy to handle, or easy to use in the environment." Consumable packaging; product producers, sellers, and users should recycle and use product packaging and containers that can be recycled and used in accordance with relevant state regulations.†The above legislation is a mandatory requirement for operators in product packaging. Including safety information disclosure obligations and safety packaging obligations, effectively protect the security rights of our consumers.
2. Right to know
The right to know is the right of the consumer to know the true conditions of the goods purchased or used by the consumer or the services he receives. Article 8 of the Consumer Protection Law stipulates: “Consumers have the right to know the actual conditions of the goods they purchase or use, or the services they receive.†“The consumer has the right to request the operator to provide information based on different conditions of the goods or services. The price, place of manufacture, producer, use, performance, specification, grade, main component, production date, expiration date, inspection qualification certificate, usage instructions, after-sales service, or service content, specifications, fees, etc." There are actually two meanings: First, the condition of the goods or services provided by the operator must be true; second, the consumer has the right to inquire about and understand the specific conditions of the goods or services when purchasing, using, or receiving services. From the operator's point of view, the consumer's right to know is a compulsory disclosure obligation that the operator has. This is of extremely important significance in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, reducing consumer transaction risks and losses, curbing unfair competition practices, realizing effective connection between production and consumption, and building an honest and trustworthy market order.
Product packaging is the most direct way for products to appear. Consumers understand that most of the information on product quality, use, and specifications is obtained through packaging. The "Consumer Protection Act" requires that operators should "provide consumers with real information about goods or services, not misleading false propaganda," "mark their real names and marks," "advertisements, product descriptions, Where a physical sample or any other means indicates the quality of the goods or services, the actual quality of the goods or services provided shall be consistent with the stated quality." Article 27 of China’s “Product Quality Law†also stipulates that “the product or the label on its packaging must be authentic, it should have the product name, manufacturer’s name and site name specified in Chinese, and the product’s specifications, grades, and major components contained in Chinese should be The name and content are marked accordingly." In 2005, the "General Rules for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods," which was newly introduced, addressed the outstanding issues in the food industry. Special regulations were also stipulated for food packaging: "Food name, ingredient list, net content and drain content, quality grade must be indicated on the food packaging label. , date marking and storage instructions, product standard number, food method, energy and nutrients, date of last consumption, etc.; "The label must be displayed in the most easily observed position on the packaging or packaging container, all contents should be clear, eye-catching, long-lasting , should be easy to understand, accurate, and scientifically based, and all contents must not be false, misleading or deceptive to consumers, text, graphics, symbols, etc.." Therefore, operators must guarantee the authenticity and accuracy of product information on the packaging. Sex, adequacy and appropriateness are powerful guarantees for consumers to make real, sensible consumption choices.
Third, the conclusion
In the current situation of increasingly fierce international competition, many countries have used improved packaging as a means to strengthen external competition. The packaging industry has become one of the "sunrise industries" in the world economic development process. After more than 20 years of development, China's packaging industry has also become a new important growth point for the national economy, playing a decisive role in meeting consumer demand and expanding exports. However, there are still some companies that use counterfeit packaging and famous brands as cover to produce and sell inferior products, deliberately use the “foreign trademark†to confuse consumers or blindly engage in excessive packaging, seriously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and disrupt the socialist market economic order. It also affected the reputation of domestic products in the international market. In order to actively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers and build a harmonious and healthy economic order, it is necessary to strengthen the obligations of business operators in protecting the rights and interests of consumers. In the packaging industry, we can learn from the successful experiences of some developed countries, strengthen the packaging legislation, strictly crack down on counterfeit sales, maintain fair competition order, and actively develop green products, promote green packaging, which is not only to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The righteousness is also the only way for domestic industries to face the challenges of WTO and move into the international market.
(The author of this article is a master of law from School of International Law, Graduate School of China University of Political Science and Law)
Source: China Packaging News