소비자법 분야의 몇 가지 쟁점과 그 개선방안 (A Study on the Issues of Consumer Law and the Rational Improvements)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 경희대학교 법학연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 경희법학 / 54권 / 1호 / 161 ~ 192페이지
· 저자명 : 정완

초록

소비자법 분야에서 논의되고 있는 쟁점들은 무엇일까? 우선 신설이 필요한 법률은 이른바 금융소비자보호법이다. 일반 상품과 용역에 대한 청약철회권을 비롯한 각종 소비자의권리는 대체로 입법이 완비되어 있지만 금융상품에 대한 소비자의 권리를 담은 법률은 아직 입법되지 않았기 때문이다. 그밖에 소비자법 분야에서 개선이 필요한 몇가지 쟁점을 정리해보면 다음과 같다.
첫째, 최근가습기살균제 피해, 자동차 화재 피해 등많은 사건들이 발생하였으나 소비자피해의 효과적 구제를 위한 법제도의 개선은 잘 이루어지지 않고 있어, 소비자피해구제절차가 현재보다 더욱 강화될 필요가 있다. 가령, 현행 소비자기본법상 소비자단체소송이 규정되어있지만소비자권익침해행위의중지와정지만이청구가능하고손해배상청구는제외되어있으므로보완이필요하다. 아울러단체소송의청구적격이매우제한적이므로‘집단소송’의 도입이 필요할 것으로 보인다.
둘째, 각종소비자법에 규정된 소비자의 청약철회권의 행사기간이 7일, 14일, 30일, 3개월등 제각각이라 소비자가 정확한 청약철회권을 행사하는데 어려움이 있다. 보다 확실하고정확한 정보를 얻고 청약철회권을 최대한 보장하는 방향으로 개선할 필요가 있다.
셋째, 현행 징벌적 손해배상제도는 대체로 3배배상제도로 되어 있어 경제력이 있는 사업자에게 그다지 징벌의 효과가 없으므로 손해배상의 상한을 3배에서 5배내지 10배 혹은 무상한으로 개선할 필요가 있다. 현재 제조물책임법, 개인정보보호법, 정보통신망법 등에 제한적으로 징벌적 손해배상제도가 도입되어 있는데, 이를 소비자기본법에 도입하여 모든 소비자소송사안에 대하여 징벌적 손해배상이 가능하도록 개선할 필요가 있다.
넷째, 현행소비자법의체계를분석하면 소비자기본법을중심으로, 각종거래유형에따른개별적소비자보호법률들이있는데이가운데할부거래법, 방문판매법, 전자상거래법등소비자보호3법은그구성내용과순서가매우유사하기때문에이들법률들을통합하여하나의 법률로 단일화하는 방안을 검토해볼 필요가 있다. 소비자의 입장에서 생각할 때 거래유형마다제각각인법률들을찾아봐야하는상황이라면법률지식을쉽게학습하기는매우어려운 것이 사실이므로 소비자보호 3법의 내용을 분석해보고 이들이 가진 유사점을 근거로하나의 단일법률로 통합할 수 있는 방안을 강구해보고자 한다.
경제가발전할수록소비자의법적지위가강화되는경향을볼수있다. 이에따라세계적으로소비자의권익보호를위한제도의증진도엿볼수있고, 이들동향은우리소비자법제의 발전에도 크게 참고할 만하다. 본문에서는 현행 소비자법의 규정이 불완전하거나 피해구제절차가완전하지못하여보완및개선이필요한내용을골라그내용과해결방안을제시해 보았다.

영어초록

Currently, legislation required in consumer law is the Financial Consumer Protection Act. The rights of various consumers, such as the right to withdraw the offer, are generally enacted, but the consumer’s right to financial products has not yet been enacted. In addition, we will summarize the areas that need improvement in consumer law.
First, although many cases such as damage of humidifier disinfectant and fire damage of automobile occurred, improvement of legal system for effective relief of consumer damage is not done well and consumer remedy procedure needs to be strengthened more than now. For example, the consumer group lawsuit is prescribed in the current Consumer Basic Law, but this part should be supplemented because the claims of consumer damage can be claimed and the claims for damages are excluded.
In addition, it is likely that the introduction of class action lawsuits will be necessary since the eligibility of class action lawsuits is very limited.
Second, consumers have difficulty in exercising the right of withdrawal of the subscription right as prescribed by various consumer laws, such as 7, 14, 30, and 3 months. It is necessary to improve the direction to get more accurate and accurate information and to guarantee the right of withdrawal of the offer to the maximum extent.
Third, since the current punitive damages system is generally triple compensation system, it is necessary to improve the upper limit of damages from 3 times to 5 times to 10 times or more . Currently, the punitive damages system is limited to the Product Liability Act, the Personal Information Protection Act, and the Information and Communications Network Act. It is necessary to introduce the punitive damages system into the Consumer Basic Law to improve punitive damages for all consumer litigation cases.
Fourth, analyzing the current consumer law system, a plurality of individual consumer protection laws based on various transaction types are listed, focusing on the basic consumer law, which includes basic rights of consumers, dispute settlement procedures, and victim relief procedures. These consumer protection laws are classified according to the legislative order: the regulation law, the installment transaction law, the visit sales law, the electronic commerce law, the product liability law, and the financial consumer protection law (draft). Among them, And the order is very similar, I wonder whether these laws should be separately enacted like this, and I think that it would be better to legislate more rationally by unifying these laws into one law. It is a fact that it is very difficult to learn legal knowledge easily if you have to look for laws that are different for each transaction type. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze each consumer protection laws by their core contents and study how they have similarities and how to integrate them into one law based on these similarities.
The more the economy develops, the stronger the legal status of consumers. As a result, it is possible to gain a glimpse of the promotion of systems for the protection of consumers’ rights in the world, and these trends are very useful for the development of our consumer law system. In the first place, the contents of the current Consumer Law are either incomplete or the remedial procedures are not complete, and some contents that need to be supplemented or improved are presented and their solutions and solutions are presented. Although it may be a superficial solution, I would like to endeavor to be a more effective remedy for consumer damage through continuous research review.

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