消费公益诉讼惩罚赔偿金归属研究

On the Ownership of Punitive Conpensation in Consumer Public Interest Litigation

有关消费公益诉讼惩罚赔偿金应当归国家所有还是归广大受害消费者所有的认识,须回归到惩罚赔偿金性质与功能进行检视。目前司法实践中判决惩罚赔偿金缴交国库的做法,有违惩罚赔偿金的基本性质与功能,且难以对广大受害消费者进行赔付。鉴于惩罚赔偿金所具有的民事责任性质,不法商家应当对广大受害消费者进行赔偿,且惩罚赔偿金应当归属于广大受害消费者所有。从伦理与法理的角度上看,惩罚赔偿金归广大受害消费者所有并不存在鼓励贪利思想以及引发滥诉的问题。最高人民法院的有关司法解释应当尽快对惩罚赔偿金的归属、支配、管理及使用做出明确规定。

Whether punitive conpensation obtained in the consumer public interest litigation belong to the state or relevant consumers should be determined by their nature and function.However,in the current judicial practice,the verdict that punitive conpensation should be turned over to the State Treasury is strongly against the nature and function,making it difficult for victimized consumers to obtain compensation.This study suggests that in view of the nature of civil liability of punitive conpensation,illegal businesses should directly compensate relevant consumers with punitive conpensation.From an ethical and legal point of view,consumers’ownership of punitive conpensation will neither encourage greed nor lead to abuse of litigation.The judicial interpretation on the ownership,allocation,management and use of punitive conpensation should be clearly stipulated by the Supreme People’s Court as soon as possible.