중국의 전자상거래 소비자보호제도에 관한 연구

Abstract

In 2008 the consumer spending through E-commerce in China reached over 1% of total spending of the nation, showing its rapid growth. Chinese E-commerce market has been growing at a fast rate and not the number of users in China exceeded that of U.S. Consumer problems in the e-commerce market in China is also increasing at a fast rate due to lack of legal and regulatory infra structure. E-commerce by nature expedite cross-border transaction, and provides ample business opportunities. This study provides an overview of the development of e-commerce in China, and to review the current consumer problems and protection issues in Chinese E-commerce market. Related journals, literature and statistics from CNNIC were used as secondary data for this study. Results showed that there are many commonalities between e-commerce related consumer problems in Korea and China. The main problems that Chinese consumers face when making e-commerce transactions are found as deceptive advertising and consumer information, consumer privacy issues, consumer redress issues and return related issues. One distinctive feature in consumer protection in e-commerce context in China was that there is a strong self-regulations imposed by businesses due to lack of regulatory actions. Limits of self-regulations in fully protecting consumer rights in e-commerce context are discussed. This study provides basic understanding of the current status of e-commerce in China and consumer problems and protection issues which could be useful for businesses planning to expand their market to China, and also for constructing e-commerce related consumer policy for cross-border transactions and collaborations.