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at the seminar, the staff on site eloquently promoted the product's effects of detoxification, blood sugar reduction, lipid reduction, and weight loss. the couple spent 450,000 yuan to buy it home, but found that it was actually just ordinary food, and it had not even been registered or filed as a health food in china. they angrily sued the merchant in court, demanding "three times the compensation for one". recently, the jinshan district people's court of shanghai concluded this product liability dispute case.

the health supplements i spent 450,000 yuan on turned out to be ordinary food

from july 2021 to february 2023, plaintiffs mr. li (55 years old) and ms. zhang (50 years old) successively purchased more than 20 products including various candies, solid beverages, fruit and vegetable juice drinks from a certain defendant technology company, spending a total of more than 450,000 yuan.

according to the statements of the two plaintiffs, in july 2021, the defendant company organized a promotional event, and the two were introduced to participate in the event. the defendant company introduced its products through on-site presentations, saying that they have the effects of detoxification, lowering blood sugar, lowering blood lipids, and weight loss, and listed the required products and dosages based on the physical condition of the on-site participants.

the two plaintiffs believed it, but after purchasing it, they found that the products were ordinary commodities, and did not have the functions of lowering blood sugar, detoxifying, regulating fatty liver, etc. claimed by the defendant company, and the related foods had not been registered or filed as health foods in china. therefore, the plaintiffs believed that the defendant company had engaged in false propaganda and defrauded consumers, and demanded that the defendant company return more than 450,000 yuan of the purchased goods and compensate them at three times the purchase price (more than 1.35 million yuan).

after the court mediation, the two parties agreed to return 380,000 yuan

the defendant company argued that it had never advertised that its products had the effects of lowering blood sugar, detoxifying, and lowering blood lipids, and that the plaintiffs' misunderstanding came from the statements of some people at the scene. the defendant did not engage in false advertising and did not constitute consumer fraud, so it disagreed with the two plaintiffs' claims.

during the trial, both parties fully expressed their opinions. after mediation organized by the court, both parties were willing to take a step back and signed a mediation agreement, taking into account factors such as the market price and use of the goods involved in the case: the defendant company shall return 380,000 yuan to the plaintiff within the deadline. if the defendant fails to pay on time, the plaintiff may apply for compulsory execution of 760,000 yuan.

judge's opinion

zhao xianzhang, a fourth-level senior judge of the tinglin people's court of the jinshan court of shanghai, and chen zhenghao, assistant judge of the tinglin people's court, introduced: in life, consumers choose goods to meet their life needs, and operators provide goods to obtain operating profits. the benign interaction benefits all parties and promotes market prosperity. in order to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and operators, my country has formulated and promulgated special laws such as the consumer protection law, the food safety law, and the advertising law in addition to the civil code. while providing consumers and operators with avenues for rights relief, it has also formulated codes of conduct to ensure the fairness of transactions. the dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant in this case involves many matters such as operator fraud, food safety, and merchant publicity. for this reason, the following reminders are given:

• consumers who are defrauded can ask for "refund one and compensate three"

in the transaction process, consumers are often at a disadvantage in terms of information and do not know much about product quality, performance, and usage. therefore, business operators need to bear the obligation to inform the truth. otherwise, they may be deemed to have defrauded consumers and will be required to bear triple compensation liability while refunding the purchase price. this is what we commonly call "refund one and compensate three".

this statement comes from article 55, paragraph 1 of the consumer protection law: "if an operator provides goods or services with fraudulent behavior, it shall, at the request of the consumer, increase compensation for the losses suffered by the consumer. the amount of increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumer or the cost of receiving the service; if the amount of increased compensation is less than 500 yuan, it shall be 500 yuan. if otherwise provided by law, it shall be followed."

it is important to note that fraudulent behavior includes active fraud and passive fraud. active fraud refers to the operator knowing the true situation of the product but making false statements; passive fraud refers to the operator concealing the truth and failing to disclose the true situation despite having the obligation to do so.

for example, in this case, the defendant company argued that the plaintiff's misunderstanding came from the on-site personnel, but as the organizer of the event, it should clarify the wrong claims about the product. passive handling of this will constitute passive fraud. at the same time, when consumers are defending their rights, they should also provide evidence to prove the fact that the operator has committed fraud.

• if food does not meet safety standards, you can claim ten times the compensation

food and drug safety concerns the national economy and people's livelihood. for this purpose, my country has promulgated the food safety law and the drug administration law.

recently, the "interpretation of the supreme people's court on several issues concerning the application of law in the trial of food and drug punitive compensation dispute cases" (hereinafter referred to as the "interpretation") was promulgated and will come into effect on august 22, 2024. article 1 of the interpretation stipulates that if the food purchased by the purchaser for personal or family consumption does not meet the food safety standards, the producer or operator may be required to pay punitive damages; it also clarifies that if the purchaser purchases food for personal or family consumption needs and there is no evidence to prove that he knew that the purchased food did not meet the food safety standards but still purchased it, the punitive damages shall be calculated based on the actual payment of the food at ten times the price.

article 9 of the interpretation also provides that buyers have the right to choose "refund one and get three times the price" or "refund one and get ten times the price". these provisions fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of ordinary consumers.

• businesses should abide by the advertising law

article 4 of the advertising law of the people's republic of china stipulates: "advertisements shall not contain false or misleading content, nor deceive or mislead consumers. advertisers shall be responsible for the authenticity of advertising content."

in our daily lives, some unscrupulous businesses exaggerate or make false claims about the performance, functions, origin, and uses of products in order to sell them. especially in the promotion of health care products for the elderly, some businesses take advantage of the elderly's psychology and exaggerate the efficacy of food and medicines in order to achieve sales goals.

in this regard, elderly consumers should be careful to identify and remain vigilant when purchasing goods, and their children should also pay more attention to the physical and mental health of the elderly, and dissuade them in time to avoid causing losses.