Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall
This paper introduces a unique phenomenon with a distinctive Chinese regulatory approach. Since 1994, the Consumer Rights Protection Law has afforded consumers the right to seek punitive damages in instances of fraudulent practices. This has given rise to a special profession with Chinese characteri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-03-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24000667/type/journal_article |
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| author | Yi Lu Herwig C.H. Hofmann Felix Pflücke |
| author_facet | Yi Lu Herwig C.H. Hofmann Felix Pflücke |
| author_sort | Yi Lu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper introduces a unique phenomenon with a distinctive Chinese regulatory approach. Since 1994, the Consumer Rights Protection Law has afforded consumers the right to seek punitive damages in instances of fraudulent practices. This has given rise to a special profession with Chinese characteristics: professional consumers. Their status as enigmatic figures is a consequence of the fluctuating stance of public authorities. Thirty years of consistent inconsistency has been a rarity in China’s legislative history. The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the CRPL, China’s Consumer Rights Protection Law and the birth of its implementing regulation. It is an opportune moment to reassess the regulatory system that enabled this group and reconstruct it for the future. This paper presents a comprehensive regulatory review of the emergence, growth, and projected decline of professional consumers. It examines the reasons for this long-standing regulatory inconsistency through a detailed investigation of China’s legal system. It concludes by projecting two upcoming legal positions. The first is the transformation under the state’s co-governance strategy. The second is the displacement by procuratorial public interest litigation. Although seemingly contradictory, these two positions exemplify a distinctive Chinese approach to the co-governance strategy, which is characterized by the preponderance of public authority. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bd2f9f17f92143169edaf76fdcfa24af |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1867-299X 2190-8249 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
| spelling | doaj-art-bd2f9f17f92143169edaf76fdcfa24af2025-08-20T13:03:13ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Journal of Risk Regulation1867-299X2190-82492025-03-011629432210.1017/err.2024.66Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending FallYi Lu0https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8025-2732Herwig C.H. HofmannFelix PflückePeking University, School of Transnational Law, Shenzhen, ChinaThis paper introduces a unique phenomenon with a distinctive Chinese regulatory approach. Since 1994, the Consumer Rights Protection Law has afforded consumers the right to seek punitive damages in instances of fraudulent practices. This has given rise to a special profession with Chinese characteristics: professional consumers. Their status as enigmatic figures is a consequence of the fluctuating stance of public authorities. Thirty years of consistent inconsistency has been a rarity in China’s legislative history. The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the enactment of the CRPL, China’s Consumer Rights Protection Law and the birth of its implementing regulation. It is an opportune moment to reassess the regulatory system that enabled this group and reconstruct it for the future. This paper presents a comprehensive regulatory review of the emergence, growth, and projected decline of professional consumers. It examines the reasons for this long-standing regulatory inconsistency through a detailed investigation of China’s legal system. It concludes by projecting two upcoming legal positions. The first is the transformation under the state’s co-governance strategy. The second is the displacement by procuratorial public interest litigation. Although seemingly contradictory, these two positions exemplify a distinctive Chinese approach to the co-governance strategy, which is characterized by the preponderance of public authority.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24000667/type/journal_articleconsumer protectionprofessional consumerspunitive damagesdepartmentalizationco-governance |
| spellingShingle | Yi Lu Herwig C.H. Hofmann Felix Pflücke Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall European Journal of Risk Regulation consumer protection professional consumers punitive damages departmentalization co-governance |
| title | Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall |
| title_full | Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall |
| title_fullStr | Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall |
| title_short | Chinese Professional Consumers at 30: The Rise and Impending Fall |
| title_sort | chinese professional consumers at 30 the rise and impending fall |
| topic | consumer protection professional consumers punitive damages departmentalization co-governance |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X24000667/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yilu chineseprofessionalconsumersat30theriseandimpendingfall AT herwigchhofmann chineseprofessionalconsumersat30theriseandimpendingfall AT felixpflucke chineseprofessionalconsumersat30theriseandimpendingfall |