Today, the Supreme People's Court held a press conference to release the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Punitive Damages for Food and Drugs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"), which will come into effect on August 22, 2024. Chen Yifang, the chief judge of the Supreme People's Court, introduced that the "Interpretation" consists of 19 articles, which provide provisions for protecting the rights of ordinary consumers, refunding and returning food and drugs, the responsibility of purchasing agents, the responsibility of small workshops, the determination of defects in labels and instructions, the competition of punitive damages liability, the responsibility for producing and operating fake and inferior drugs, the determination of punitive damages base, regulating continuous purchase claims and repeated claims, and punishing illegal claims. The Interpretation specifies that for ordinary consumers, the actual payment price should be used as the basis for calculating punitive damages. The Interpretation stipulates that if the purchaser purchases food for personal or family consumption needs without evidence to prove that they know the purchased food does not meet food safety standards, punitive damages of ten times the actual payment price should be calculated based on the actual payment price, fully protecting the rights protection behavior of ordinary consumers. The Interpretation establishes rules for refunds and returns of food and drugs, stipulating that if measures such as harmless treatment and destruction should be taken for food and drugs in accordance with the law, they should be handled in accordance with relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law and the Drug Administration Law, to eliminate people's concerns about unqualified food and drugs re entering the market. The Interpretation clarifies the responsibilities of purchasing agents and small workshops, and stipulates that if purchasing agents engage in purchasing as a business, they should bear punitive damages in accordance with the law. It is required to accurately understand and apply the provisions of the Food Safety Law, which not only protects food safety, but also avoids improperly increasing the responsibility of small workshops and food vendors in food production and processing. The Interpretation specifies which food safety standards should be subject to punitive damages for violations. When Article 5 of the Interpretation stipulates this issue, although it does not list the "hygiene requirements for the food production and operation process", it does not exclude its application. The people's court shall make a determination on whether the non-compliance of food with procedural food safety standards affects food safety. Those who do not distinguish between raw and cooked food, mix harmful substances with food, contaminate food with packaging materials or transportation vehicles, and violate process food safety standards, endangering food safety, shall bear punitive damages liability in accordance with the law. For the application rules of different punitive damages, the Interpretation stipulates that buyers have the right to choose "refund one and compensate three" or "refund one and compensate ten" to strengthen consumer rights protection. This provision also stipulates that if the buyer files an erroneous lawsuit of "refund one and compensate ten", they have the right to change the lawsuit to demand "refund one and compensate three" in accordance with the law. As the amended claim does not exceed the scope of the original litigation request, the people's court may make a judgment in accordance with the law, and does not require the buyer to change the claim by changing the litigation request, in order to avoid increasing the cost of rights protection and causing procedural idleness. The Interpretation regulates malicious high claims, continuous purchase claims, and repeated claims. Among them, it is stipulated that for those who maliciously claim high compensation for "buying fake goods", their punitive damages requests shall be supported in accordance with the law within the scope of reasonable living consumption needs. For those who claim compensation after consecutive purchases of counterfeit goods, their punitive damages request will be supported within the reasonable range of their daily consumption needs based on the total number of purchases of the same food multiple times. For those who purchase counterfeit goods continuously and repeatedly claim compensation, comprehensive consideration should be given to factors such as shelf life, typical consumer habits, and the frequency of purchase by buyers, and their punitive compensation requests should be supported within the scope of reasonable living consumption needs. For illegal claims such as maliciously creating false impressions of illegal production and operation of food and drugs, extorting compensation, or suing for compensation based on maliciously created false impressions, the "Interpretation" stipulates that if the above behaviors constitute false litigation, the offender shall be fined or detained according to the severity of the circumstances; Those suspected of extortion or false litigation shall promptly transfer relevant criminal clues and materials to the public security organs to punish illegal claims, protect the legitimate rights and interests of producers and operators, and maintain normal market order. (New Society)