Although the B2C e-commerce market in China has made a breakthrough, compared with developed countries, the level of online shopping in China is still in the primary stage, and the three main problems of e-commerce in China-market, credit and distribution-still need to be solved urgently. China's market system is still not perfect and standardized, counterfeit and shoddy goods are repeatedly banned, fraud occurs from time to time, market players lack the necessary self-discipline and strict social supervision, and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers can not be guaranteed to a large extent.
China attaches great importance to e-commerce legislation. At present, the main laws and regulations related to e-commerce in China can be divided into those related to Internet technology and those related to Internet content. 1999 The new contract law involves the legal effect of electronic contracts and electronic evidence. In 2004, China promulgated and implemented the Electronic Signature Law, which is closely related to electronic commerce. In addition, the General Principles of Civil Law, the Basic Law for Regulating Civil Relations, the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Law against Unfair Competition of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests of People's Republic of China (PRC), and the Product Quality Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), etc. And a larger number of administrative laws, regulations and rules. However, compared with countries with a high level of e-commerce development in the world, China's e-commerce legislation is relatively backward, and there are only a handful of laws and regulations directly regulating the Internet and e-commerce in domestic legislation.
On May 3, 2065438, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Commodity Trading and Related Services (hereinafter referred to as the Measures). This is the first management method to standardize online shopping in China. Article 1 of the Measures clearly stipulates that the purpose of legislation is to "standardize online commodity trading and related service behaviors, protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and operators, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the network economy". However, as far as its current implementation is concerned, the actual effect of these measures seems to be unsatisfactory.
As a mode of e-commerce, B2C has its own particularity and needs relevant laws and regulations to adapt to its development. For example, the case of McCawlin and Monbazaar, which was once a sensation, posed a new challenge to the traditional concept of intellectual property protection; B2C also has some legal problems in the basic rules of e-commerce, such as the form and effect of electronic contract and electronic payment; The complexity of B2C online transactions determines that it needs a national credit system to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, which requires strengthening the construction of credit legal system. The effective operation of B2C payment system needs the support of third-party payment services and other relevant laws and regulations. Thus, in China, there are still many blank areas in e-commerce legislation under B2C mode, and it is necessary to systematically improve the legislation as soon as possible.
Based on the advanced experience of foreign e-commerce legislation, the development trend of B2C in China and the current situation of domestic legislation, this paper puts forward the following suggestions to improve e-commerce legislation:
(A) e-commerce legislation should follow the principles
The legislative principle of e-commerce is of great guiding significance to the establishment of e-commerce legal system, which runs through the whole legislative activity. Legislation should be carried out and completed smoothly under the premise of following the principles of neutrality and security. Implement the principle of neutrality
In particular, the legal norms in the traditional written environment (such as writing, signature and other legal requirements) should not override the e-commerce law, but should be treated neutrally, and the implementation of the law should be decided according to the needs of specific environmental characteristics. E-commerce is an online transaction in a virtual environment, and its face-to-face transaction mode and transnational nature put forward higher requirements for security. The principle of security constitutes the basis of mandatory legislation in e-commerce legislation.
(2) Pay attention to the integration with global e-commerce legislation.
In the Internet, a virtual world that breaks geographical boundaries and has no national boundaries, the main body of B2C e-commerce transactions is virtualized, and the main activity place is the website. E-commerce transcends regional and borderless characteristics, enabling consumers to enter the websites of enterprises in any country for online shopping. Similarly, enterprises have to face consumers from different countries and regions. In the case of contract disputes, it is difficult to determine which country's laws should be applied for regulation. The transnational nature of e-commerce makes the legal construction of e-commerce must meet the needs of internationalization, so the legislation of e-commerce must be improved with reference to international legal rules. For example, the Model Law on Electronic Commerce formulated by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law is one of the models of electronic commerce legislation.
(C) standardize online B2C e-commerce transaction subject and access system
Due to the rapid growth of B2C, it has aroused the strong concern of various industry giants. Internet companies and traditional enterprises are eager to try and want a piece of the action. However, as we all know, the existence of virtual subject poses a serious threat to the security of e-commerce transactions. At present, the confirmation of the subject of online transactions is only a government-controlled issue of online commerce, which is mainly solved by the publicity and authentication system of online commercial subjects in the administrative department for industry and commerce in China. At present, China has not issued a national law to regulate the qualifications of e-commerce transaction subjects, which makes the legitimacy and credibility of online transaction subjects emerge one after another. Based on the actual situation of B2C e-commerce in China, the author believes that in order to adapt to the development of B2C in China, when perfecting e-commerce legislation, we should first ensure the real existence of online transaction subjects, and then standardize how to identify the qualifications of transaction subjects, especially natural persons. Moreover, the establishment conditions of online trading subjects and the market access conditions of e-commerce should still follow the rules of protecting consumers' interests and social public interests. The experience of Australia, New Zealand and other countries has reference significance for the qualification identification of online trading subjects. It is necessary not only to supervise the trading subjects entering the market in advance, but also to supervise the consequences of their transactions, such as compulsory tax registration.
(4) Strengthen the security of electronic payment.
The smooth operation of payment system plays a vital role in the healthy and stable operation of B2C. At present, there is no special legislation on electronic fund transfer in China. We can draw lessons from American electronic fund transfer law on the basis of paying attention to our own reality to protect the legitimate rights and interests of natural person customers who transfer small electronic funds. Or we can learn from EU e-commerce legislation and determine the minimum requirements in terms of contract form, liability, legal aid and customer information.
5) Pay attention to the protection of consumer rights.
At present, China's commercial credit system is not perfect, the quality problems of products sold online are constantly emerging, and the procedures of returning goods, repairing and replacing are difficult to complete. It is necessary to formulate specific legal norms on how to protect consumers' rights and interests. In addition, so far, there is no special law to protect the right to online privacy in China, which makes it impossible for Chinese citizens to effectively protect the right to online privacy.
In view of the above problems, we should first learn from some experiences of the United States, where e-commerce is the most developed today. The United States supports a unified commercial legal framework and implements the Unified Commercial Law (UCC) in all states, which has been applied in the field of e-commerce. China should actively learn from its experience and improve its e-commerce laws. Secondly, China should also stipulate the individual's right to know by amending laws and enacting new laws. In addition, it is also necessary to clarify the remedies when the rights of the parties are infringed, and the legal responsibilities of data collectors who do not use the information according to the stated purposes, improperly disclose the information or even sell it to a third party.