In November 2011 a study on the status quo of consumer protection in Chinese E-Commerce was published. One of the recommendations of the study was the introduction of an E-Commerce label that could better protect Chinese consumers from fraud and other detrimental practices in the Internet. The Chinese government picked up on the recommendation and a German-Chinese expert group began to work on this new project this week.
The objective of the experts is to develop a concrete proposal for such an E-Commerce label until mid-2012. In so doin
- key challenges for Chinese consumers in E-commerce will be identified,
- conditions for the introduction of a label in China will be assessed,
- best international practices will be reviewed,
- an integration of mechanisms for Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) will be ensured and
- partners for this project will be identified.
The project is financed jointly by German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC). On the German side the following experts are involved in this project: Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz (European University Institute, Florence), Kai Purnhagen (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), Gerald Spindler (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Christian Thorun (ConPolicy).
Source: ConPolicy - Institute for Consumer Policy