The Tort Liability Of E-commerce Platform Operators For Violating Their Audit Obligations

Because of the growth of the network economy in recent years,e-commerce platforms have been involved in all aspects of our consumption field.The vigorous development of e-commerce platforms not only brings convenience to consumption,but also causes new rights protection problems.As the leader of the online trading link,the e-commerce platform operators need to review the qualifications of the operators in the platform to reduce the transaction risks and safeguard the rights and interests of consumers.The electronic commerce law of the People’s Republic of China(referred to as the "electronic commerce law" from here on.)of article 38 of paragraph 2 of the electricity business platform operators of platform operator qualification qualification audit obligations and violation of the obligation need to bear the corresponding responsibility,but the regulation content is not clear to reduce the audit obligations of the applicable judicial.This paper studies the construction of e-commerce platform operators’ tort liability in violation of audit obligations from the perspective of interpretation,in order to clarify the applicable standards of audit obligations of platform operators in judicial practice,and provide new relief ways for consumers to safeguard their rights.The full text is divided into five chapters and the conclusions.The first chapter introduces the research purpose of this paper for the introduction part,research methods and literature review of this paper.In the literature review section,the comparative law study first introduces the different regulatory models of the United States and the European Union,and then reviews the mainstream views and academic disputes in China.The second chapter studies the problems existing in the legislation and practice of the audit obligation of e-commerce platform operators.In terms of legislation,because the audit obligation has not yet formed a unified standardized system,there are problems such as the identity standard of the audit obligation subject is not unified,the content of the audit obligation is not clear,and the legal consequences of the violation of the audit obligation are uncertain.In terms of judicial practice,the audit obligation is limited by the theory of security obligation and the theory of independent application.The third chapter studies the factors in the construction of audit obligation of e-commerce platform operators.In the first part,by analyzing the legal characteristics of e-commerce platform operators in the transaction link,it determines the scope of audit obligations from the perspective of traditional theory to the perspective of functionalism.The second part demonstrates that the audit obligation of e-commerce platform operators has the nature of both public law and private law,and the violation of the audit obligation needs to bear the tort liability to consumers.The third part of the time schedule as the division standard to electric business platform operators of audit obligation,specific divided into prior to the platform operators suitability audit,in the platform within the operators of goods and services security active audit,after the consumer feedback notice audit three stages,audit standards from a static form audit to the essence of the dynamic audit.The fourth chapter studies the parts that make up the e-commerce platform operator’s tort responsibility for breaching the audit requirement.The first part makes it clear that the liability principle of e-commerce platform operators for violating the audit obligation is the principle of fault liability.The identification of fault should judge whether the e-commerce platform operators have fulfilled the duty of care of qualified managers through the help of objective evidence.The second part of the violation of audit obligation tort types divided into separate infringement and help infringement,electric business platform operators in proprietary business did not fulfill the obligation to audit the consumer damage is direct infringement,in his business in violation of audit obligations to the platform operators direct infringement created opportunities and conditions is common help in the tort behavior.The third part is the demonstration of the damage consequences.The growth of the e-commerce sector and the defense of consumers’ rights and interests must coexist in harmony,the damage consequences caused by the violation of the audit obligations are limited to the scope of the life and health of consumers.The fourth part is the demonstration of the causality relationship.There is a direct causal relationship between the omission of e-commerce platform operators violating the audit obligation and the damage consequences of consumers’ life and health.The fifth chapter studies the responsibility form of the e-commerce platform operators who violate the audit obligations.Through the typed analysis of the"corresponding responsibilities" in Article 38,paragraph 2 of the E-commerce Law,the specific interpretation path is determined in combination with the original intention of the legislator and the content of the audit obligation.The first part explains the identification of the separate infringement liability of the e-commerce platform operators for violating the audit obligation.The second part explains the identification of the tort liability of the majority of the audit obligation from three aspects.In the aggregation of the e-commerce platform mode,the e-commerce platform operators should bear the damage to the rights and interests of the consumers according to their own fault;When the e-commerce platform operator maintains a technology neutral position in the transaction process,they shall bear supplementary liability;when the e-commerce platform operator actively participates in the consumer transaction process with the advantage of platform data,they shall bear joint and several liability.In conclusion,combined with the full-text research,the e-commerce platform operators shall bear the compensation for tort damages to consumers in violation of the audit obligation,and the specific responsibility form should be specifically analyzed and determined according to all the factors considered in the theoretical construction.