国内英语新闻:China amends consumer rights law

HIGHER COMPENSATION, HEAVIER FINES

The revised law endorses higher compensation for consumers and imposes heavier fines on business owners who violate consumer rights.

If dealers deceive consumers or knowingly sell substandard products, they should not only compensate consumers for their losses, but also pay additional compensation equal to three times the cost of the goods or service, up from double in the old version of the law.

For serious cases in which consumers die or suffer serious health problems due to faulty products knowingly sold by dealers, dealers shall not only compensate consumers for economic and psychological losses but also pay punitive damages up to a maximum of twice the amount of the loss, according to the bill. Offenders will also be prosecuted.

For instance, if a consumer were killed because of faulty products, the death indemnity alone would be estimated to be 491,300 yuan according to current standards, and average total compensation would be at least 1.47 million yuan.

Since the death indemnity varies with the average annual disposable income of local residents, the amount could be higher in more affluent areas or lower in less-developed regions.

"We believe the compensation level is reasonable. If it is too low, offenders will not be deterred. If it is too high, the court verdict may not be carried out," Jia said.

In the old version of the law, offenders were fined one to five times their illegal income by the administration according to the degree of their offense. The new law increases the fines to ten times.

In cases in which there is no illegal income, the fine would total the maximum amount of 500,000 yuan, up from 10,000 yuan in the old version.