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§ Conducting investigation and arranging settlement while handling complaint cases;
§ Request an appraisal institution to issue appraisal report on the product quality;
§ Revealing and criticising wrongful doings harmful to the rights and interests of consumers through the medias.
Since the Chinese government finances the Consumer Associations, from the Chinese consumers’ viewpoint, they regard the Consumer Association as a ‘quasi administration’.
2.2. Product Quality Liability in China
There are three categories of product quality liability in China.
I. Administrative Liability
The State’s Administration for Supervision of Product Quality (ASPQ) and its local administrative agencies are responsible for the supervision and administration of product quality. Under the PQL, a local ASPQ at or above the county level has power to enforce the following functions:
§ Investigating the venue in which the illegal products are manufactured or sold;
§ Inquiring the responsible persons who engage manufacturing or selling illegal products;
§ Inspecting documents relating to the illegal products;
§ Seizing illegal products, which may cause harm to the health or security of people, or to their property.
The term ‘illegal products’ used in PQL is referred to those substandard products that cannot meet the requirements of this law.
An ASPQ at provincial level has the power to seize the illegal products, disclose those illegal products and the names of relevant producers to the public, stop the illegal production, and revoke the registered business license through the Administration of Industry and Commerce. It can also order a fine up to three times the value of illegal products.
II. Civil Liability
The product-related civil liability in China is somewhat confusing and complex. Firstly, under the GPCL and the relevant interpretations by the Supreme Court, this liability appears to be fault-based liability. Obviously, the fault is referred to producing or selling substandard products, but the problem may arise where there is no unified quality standard or where the product has meet the standard yet it still cause damage to others. Secondly, the wording in the Consumer Protection Law seems having introduced strict liability upon producers and sellers of commodities. Nevertheless, whether the strict liability shall apply to all commodities and both the producers and sellers is still arguable in practice. The Amendment 2000 of PQL made the first issue clearer by clarifying two definitions, but the second one appears unsolved.
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