个人信息保护之团体诉讼机制研究——以扩散性私益与社会公共利益为中心

The Group Litigation Mechanism of Personal Information Protection——Centering on diffuse private interests and social public interests

个人信息权是一种游离于公私之间的权利。在“无救济之权利非权利”的理念下,我国过去对于个人信息群体性纷争事件缺乏有效的民事救济模式。随着个人信息保护法的通过与实施,我国个人信息保护民事公益诉讼已经初具雏形。其中,个人信息保护之团体诉讼本身有公益诉讼与私益诉讼两个面向。在公益诉讼面向上,团体诉讼需要维护个人信息流通秩序所蕴含的社会公共利益。在私益诉讼面向上,团体诉讼需要维护特定的权利人的扩散性私益。又因为我国尚处于立法的初期,诉讼制度仍较少付诸实践,故而,个人信息保护之团体诉讼的具体运行机制与配套措施仍是不明确与不完善。有鉴于欧洲是世界上个人信息保护立法较为先进的地区,法域内的个人信息保护之团体诉讼制度对我国有非常重要的借鉴意义。其中,欧盟确立了个人信息保护的团体诉讼形态,并通过团体诉讼的救济方式对个人信息侵权事件进行不区分公益与私益的全面救济。同时,德国确立了示范确认诉讼来扩充示范诉讼的适用范围,允许消费者组织对受害者进行救济;法国则是通过变革消费者团体诉讼制度,将消费者组织以及专门的个人信息保护组织作为适格原告,设计了专门的诉讼程序进行损害赔偿的救济。并且,欧盟在诉讼中强调运用裁判外纷争解决方式,并加强司法审查的力度,以实现在友好解决个人信息群体性纷争事件的同时,能够充分顾及其中的扩散性利益与社会公共利益的平衡。在回顾欧洲最前沿的立法与司法动态的基础上,需要结合我国已有的民事公益诉讼制度并对其进行必要的改造,构建符合我国国情的个人信息保护之团体诉讼制度,兼顾扩散性私益与社会公共利益两者的救济。具体而言:首先,需要注重我国公益诉讼与私益诉讼的协调与衔接,注重其中的当事人适格的要求,以及证据与诉讼主张共通的运用;其次,需要在团体诉讼中增强法院对案件的监督,并完善对实质当事人的程序主体权之保障;最后,还需要在团体诉讼中善用替代性纷争解决机制,并且依据诉讼属性的不同,对ADR程序的衔接与转换机制进行完善。

The right of personal information is a kind of right which is free between the public and the private.Under the concept of“Right without remedy is not right”,there was no effective civil remedy mode for mass disputes of personal information in China in the past.With the adoption and implementation of the personal information protection law,the civil public interest litigation of personal information protection in China has begun to take shape.Among them,the personal information protection group litigation itself has two aspects:public interest litigation and private interest litigation.In the aspect of public interest litigation,group litigation needs to safeguard the social public interests contained in the order of personal information circulation.In the aspect of private interest litigation,group litigation needs to safeguard the specific right holder’s spreading private interest.And because China is still in the early stage of legislation,litigation system is still less put into practice,therefore,the specific operation mechanism and supporting measures of personal information protection group litigation are still unclear and imperfect.In view of the fact that the legislation of personal information protection in Europe is more advanced in the world,the group action system of personal information protection in the legal domain has very important reference significance for China.Among them,the European Union has established the form of group litigation for personal information protection,and has carried out comprehensive relief for personal information infringement cases without distinguishing public interests and private interests through the relief method of group litigation.Germany has established the model confirmation lawsuit to expand the scope of application of the model lawsuit,allowing consumer organizations to provide relief to the victims.France,on the other hand,through the reform of consumer group litigation system,takes consumer organizations and specialized personal information protection organizations as qualified plaintiffs and designs special litigation procedures for the relief of damages.And,the litigation emphasizes the use of extra-judicial dispute resolution,and strengthens the strength of judicial review,in order to achieve amicable settlement of personal information disputes,while fully considering the spread of interests and social public interests balance.On the basis of reviewing the most advanced legislation and judicial dynamics in Europe,it is necessary to combine the existing civil public interest litigation system in China and reform it,to construct a group litigation system of personal information protection in accordance with China’s national conditions,and to give consideration to the relief of both the spread of private interests and social public interests.To be specific,first of all,we need to pay attention to the coordination and connection between public interest litigation and private interest litigation,pay attention to the requirements of the parties,and the common use of evidence and litigation claims.Secondly,it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of the court to the case in the group lawsuit and perfect the guarantee of the procedural subject right of the substantive parties.Finally,it is necessary to make good use of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism in group litigation,and improve the cohesion and conversion mechanism of ADR procedures according to the different litigation attributes.