Prepaid spending is not uncommon today. It can be said that prepaid consumption has created a new model in the consumer market due to its unique advantages.
However, with the development of the times, the profit-seeking nature of the market and the repeated infringement of consumer rights and interests have occurred, and whether consumers' one-way prepaid consumption can be fully protected has become a key issue.
Naturally, this is also key with the laws and regulations regarding prepaid consumption.
What is prepaid consumption?
The most important point is that prepaid consumption has a prepaid nature, which includes the problem of the disappearance of the payment of the operator who causes the most damage to the consumer and the problem of the change of the main body of the operator.
The development of prepaid consumption has penetrated into all walks of life in production and life, such as the service industry, catering industry, etc., which also involves a large number of administrative regulatory agencies.
Since there are regulatory bodies, the process of laws and regulations must also keep up. Different places have different legal requirements.
In fact, the regulations for prepaid cards are relatively simple and not very operational, mainly because there are difficulties in specific implementation. After that, most of them are "management measures", "implementation rules" and even "notices", the authority is still to be discussed, the pertinence is not strong, and it is difficult to meet the development needs of prepaid transactions.
The main reason for this problem is that prepaid consumption has the prepaid nature, including the disappearance of the payment of the operator who has caused the most damage to the consumer and the change of the main body of the operator.
For example, if you go bankrupt due to poor management, you will commit fraud in order to cash out, and you will lose money by misappropriating the funds collected in advance, resulting in the closure of the store and no longer providing goods or services, and the consequence is that although the consumer has paid and has a prepaid card, the ultimate goal of consumption cannot be achieved.
In other words, in this case, if the subject matter of the consumer contract entered into between the consumer and the counterparty is the payment of specific goods and services, and the consumer has already paid the price partially or completely for the counterparty in the future, the consumer has no possibility of non-performance of the contract.
In addition, if the branch is closed or refuses to perform the contract, can the consumer make purchases or seek compensation at other franchise stores or head offices?
Chain enterprises generally require consistency in the front and decoration design, management methods, brand names, trademarks, etc., and it is difficult for consumers to confirm whether the franchise store that buys prepaid cards is a branch of the head office or a sub-store with independent legal person status.
At this time, once the operator chooses to refuse to handle the card transfer business or requires the consumer to pay a high handling fee when transferring the card, it can be said that the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are greatly damaged.
So what kind of rights does prepaid consumption destroy if it wants to stimulate consumption?
Consumers' right to know is difficult to protect.
Whether it is Beijing, Jiangsu or Shanghai, which are the first to act, the requirement is that consumers have the right to know the truth about the single-purpose card and the operator when purchasing a single-purpose card. However, all of them are very general and do not stipulate that consumers should be informed of the actual operation of the operator.
In this way, it will be very unreasonable, because of the particularity of prepaid consumption, once the consumer applies for a card, in the subsequent prepaid consumption process, the actual information of the goods or services and the information that changes with time, the business status of the operator or other factors.
If there is a subsequent increase in the price of goods or services, a decrease in the discount, a change in the content of the service, etc., it can only rely on the credit of the operator to decide whether the consumer can be accurately informed in a timely manner.
In addition, Article 33 of the Administrative Measures (for Trial Implementation) stipulates that the competent department of commerce shall conduct regular and irregular inspections of card-issuing and card-selling enterprises.
However, this provision only stipulates the inspection duties of the competent commerce department and the obligation of prepaid consumer operators to cooperate with the inspection, but lacks specific provisions on how the competent commerce department can effectively perform the inspection duties and how to perform the obligation to cooperate with the prepaid consumer operators, so it is difficult to effectively regulate the chaos of prepaid consumption in current practice.
In addition to this, the conflict between the regulatory authorities, the punishment of the operator is light, and the difficulty of returning the card and refund is still a problem.
However, it all comes down to the conflict between operators and consumers.
Profit is fundamental
Conflicting interests arise and weigh them in such a way that the interests of both parties are sacrificed as little as possible and the maximum benefit is ultimately obtained.
The interests of consumers are damaged due to the information asymmetry between the two parties. Therefore, when dealing with the relationship between operators and consumers in prepaid consumption, the mainland must seriously consider the interests of consumers, grasp the reasonableness of the term of prepaid transactions, and ensure that the compensation between operators and consumers is equivalent.
In addition, although it seems to be convenient for consumers, it is the operators who have the right to take the lead, which means that there is inequality between consumers and operators.
In addition, this prepaid consumption already exists in the current consumer market, creating the role of "consumer and operator" for the commodity economy in the new era, and the two are interdependent and opposed to each other in market activities. In consumer activities, there is not only a difference in the form of interest pursuit between the two, but also a "natural" conflict of interest.
However, in the same way, because prepaid consumption is widely popular in the consumer market, the issuance of prepaid cards has become the favorite consumption method of operators, which is conducive to the expansion of the scale of enterprises.
However, naturally, some operators rely too much on the sale of prepaid cards, and blindly expand or divert a large amount of funds at once, which is prone to the situation that the capital chain is broken due to poor management of operators.
If the operator closes the store door and runs away at this time, the consumer's advance payment will be lost.
So how to protect the rights and interests of consumers and improve the relevant relationship is the key.
In the formulation of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, the principle of "balanced results and substantive justice" is implemented to protect consumers, and the interests of business operators formed under the principle of "equal opportunities and formal justice", so that the interests of business operators and consumers can be balanced with each other.
In order to promote the rights and interests of consumers, special protection should be given taking into account the vulnerable position of consumers.
It is necessary to recognize not only the economic rationality contained in the distribution gap, but also the social rationality contained in it, showing that law is more humanistic than economics, so as to achieve fairness in the true sense.
Article 19 of the Measures for Punishment of Infringement of Consumer Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that if a business operator violates legal norms, the administrative entity shall impose an administrative penalty, and it shall be reflected in the business operator's credit file, so it is necessary to establish a "blacklist system for untrustworthy enterprises".
Through the establishment of scientific indicators and calculation methods, establish a database that reflects the degree of creditworthiness of business operators, that is, the list of trustworthy and untrustworthy business operators, and may be publicized and inquired through different channels such as the Internet and publicity boards.
In this way, it is convenient for consumers to have a more intuitive understanding of the credit status of business operators, so as to achieve a balance between the interests of business operators and consumers.
In addition, it is important to clarify the regulatory body of prepaid consumer transactions. In addition, because the current regulatory scope of the mainland's laws and regulations does not fully cover all stages of the prepaid consumption field, there is a lack of specific content, such as the lack of specific provisions to curb the depository risk of prepaid payments paid by consumers.
Therefore, it is very necessary to clarify the specific content of supervision and unify the specific standards of supervision.
It is also necessary to refine the penalty system for business operators.
On the basis of previous warnings, fines, and suspension of business for rectification, auxiliary measures have been added to freeze the accounts of business operators after investigation in accordance with law. In addition, it is necessary to carry out credit punishments for individuals who violate the law, and clarify the basis, standards, and procedures for determining the targets of punishments for untrustworthiness in prepaid consumption.
If the subject of the violation is a natural person, not only the natural person needs to be punished, but in some special circumstances, the relevant participants should also be included in the list of punishments for untrustworthiness based on a comprehensive analysis of the participants' participation and degree of benefit.
Most importantly, it is necessary to limit the total amount of advance payments issued.
Chapter II of the "Opinions on Regulating the Administration of Commercial Prepaid Cards" stipulates that the maximum face value of bearer commercial prepaid cards that can be issued shall not be greater than 1,000 yuan, and the face value of registered commercial prepaid cards has been expanded to 5,000 yuan.
Because the scale of different business operators varies greatly, it can be stipulated that the total amount of advance payments received by business operators from consumers shall not exceed the main business income of the previous year, and the total amount of advance funds received by business operators registered with the Ministry of Commerce for less than one year shall not exceed twice the registered capital of the business operators registered.
If it is not allowed to exceed a part of the main business of the previous year, it may hinder the expansion and development of the operator, and at the same time, it will also damage the right of consumers to fair trade; if it exceeds the multiple of the main business of the previous year, it will be too large and cause the actual business level of the operator to exceed the current actual business level, so the double is just right.
Improve the information disclosure system to implement consumers' right to know, and on the other hand, improve the multiple exit mechanism to prevent operators from "running away" at any time.
By refining the punishment system and status inheritance system for business operators, it is ensured that consumers can return or transfer their cards when the business entity changes or under appropriate circumstances.
This is of great significance for alleviating social contradictions, supporting economic growth, and promoting social stability.