Public hearing debates consumer law draft
Print Edition
LOCAL people were yesterday given the chance to challenge a draft amendment to the consumer rights protection law at a public hearing.
The Shanghai People’s Congress in July approved the amendment, which states that consumers are entitled to a no-questions-asked refund for goods bought online as long as the items are returned within seven days of purchase and in a condition that makes it possible for them to be resold.
While the amendment was mostly welcomed, the “resold” clause gives vendors an excuse to refuse to give refunds, said local radio journalist Wang Haibo, who was one of the consumers’ representatives at the hearing.
“It’s very difficult to define whether a product can be resold or not,” he told the legislators.
His argument was supported by the eight other consumer representatives at the hearing.
A woman surnamed Tian said she bought a microwave online, but sent it back after using it a few times and finding it didn’t meet her needs. When she asked for a refund, the vendor refused, saying the product couldn’t be resold as she had used it.
The number of complaints about online shopping has been rising dramatically in recent years, and more than half of them are about product refunds, Chen Xuejun, director of the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau, told the hearing yesterday.
However, representatives of the online sellers argued that the “resold” clause has to remain to protect the rights of other consumers who might otherwise be sold used goods.
Local legislators said they will re-evaluate the draft law after several rounds of discussions, which could take many months.
The draft legislation, which applies to items bought online and from TV shopping channels, also excludes a number of products from the no-questions-asked refund promise. These include perishables, newspapers and magazines, bespoke items, audio-visual products that have been unwrapped and computer software.
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