| For a long time,the issue of food safety has been attached great importance because it concerns people’s livelihood and the long-term stability of the country.Now,with the improvement of people’s material living standards,consumers’ pursuit of food has also undergone a major change from quantity to quality,but the current situation of the food industry is always unsatisfactory.Recently,several bloggers have become popular because of exposing the dark scenes in the food industry,which has also pushed the food safety issue to the climax of public opinion again,triggering a crisis of trust in the food industry and even questioning the country’s regulatory capacity.In order to encourage consumers to actively protect their rights and effectively crack down on the illegal acts of operators in the food industry,China introduced the punitive compensation system of the Anglo-American law system as early as the end of the last century,providing legislative support for consumers to file compensation claims in the food safety private interest litigation.However,judicial practice shows that because most of the injured consumers in the private interest litigation lack the initiative of litigation,the illegal acts cannot be punished,and the food safety problem cannot be effectively solved.In order to make up for the limitations of private interest litigation and maintain market order and public interests,the procuratorial organ,on behalf of a group of damaged consumers,filed a public interest lawsuit on food safety and put forward a claim for punitive damages,which,to a certain extent,did play an active role in cracking down on illegal acts and deterring illegal elements.However,compared with the development history of more than two hundred years in British and American countries,punitive damages have only been applied in consumer infringement cases in China for decades,and the application in the field of civil public interest litigation has just started.There are many problems in the system construction and judicial application,leading to many disputes and different judgments in the same case when the court hears such cases.Based on the above background,this paper first introduces the concept,nature and function of food safety civil public interest litigation and punitive damages,and analyzes the necessity and feasibility of introducing punitive damages into food safety civil public interest litigation;Secondly,by sorting out the relevant legal provisions and judicial precedents that have been issued,this paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of punitive damages in civil public welfare litigation for food safety,such as the unclear qualification of the procuratorial organ’s claim for punitive damages,the lack of a clear calculation method for the amount of compensation,whether the punitive damages can offset the fines and fines when they exist at the same time,and the attribution of punitive damages;Thirdly,we can draw inspiration from studying the relevant systems of countries outside the region;Finally,according to the national conditions of our country,the following countermeasures are put forward:First,the qualification of the subject of the right to claim punitive damages of the procuratorial organ should be clarified through legislation;Second,the amount of punitive damages should be specified,and the calculation base and multiple of punitive damages should be defined;Thirdly,it is clearly stipulated that punitive damages,fines and fines shall not be deducted due to their different nature,but the two can be considered as factors to determine the amount of compensation;Fourth,the compensation received should be given priority to the relief of damaged consumers,and the rest should be transferred to a special public welfare fund for public welfare activities such as consumer rights protection.The fund should be managed by the Consumers Association,supervised by the courts,procuratorates and other state organs,and the use of funds should be transparent. |
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