Consumer associations in 21 Chinese cities have written a letter to the country's top legislature calling for legal power to allow them to file public interest litigation on behalf of consumers, the Beijing Times reports.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, read a draft amendment of the Civil Procedure Law for the first time on October 24. It contained an article about "relevant authorities and social organizations" who filed class-action lawsuits to defend public interests, especially in cases of environmental pollution or unsafe food.
The "public interest litigation," designed to deal with large-scale violations of public interest, would allow government and nongovernmental organizations to take big businesses to court on behalf of individuals or small groups of citizens.
However, the draft does not specify whether consumer associations can act as plaintiffs in filing class-action lawsuits on behalf of consumers. The law on the protection of consumer rights and interests stipulates that consumer organizations are entitled only to provide counseling services and legal support but cannot represent consumers in lawsuits.
The consumer associations of the 21 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, requested in the letter that the amendment to the consumer rights law specify the right and qualification of consumer organizations to file class-action lawsuits on behalf of unspecified numbers of consumers whose rights and interests have been infringed upon.
The move is considered significant for Chinese consumers who as individuals often find it difficult to safeguard their rights because of the high cost of litigation and the fact that victims in most cases are scattered across large areas. In some public health incidents such as the Sanlu melamine-tainted infant milk formula case, some victims gave up their quest for compensation because they were overwhelmed by the difficult legal process.
The consumer associations in their letter suggest that the court issue a notice on public interest litigation detailing cases and claims so consumers can go to court to register and participate in the litigation, the report said.
A victory in public interest litigation would ensure that multiple consumers would have their rights and interests safeguarded, according to a New Express report that quoted Tang Ming, a lawyer at the Guangdong Lingnan law firm.
