The Developments of Collective Redress in Taiwan

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper seeks to provide a holistic investigation and recommendations for the consumer collective redress system in Taiwan. As for monetary redress, this essay argues that the plaintiff’s standing and the procedure for massive damages and small dispersive damages should be distinguished. It should be considered that the qualified group may file a collective action for the small dispersive damages as a whole group right of consumers without the assignments of individual consumers, and the compensation could be awarded to the special fund and not be distributed to individual consumers. To improve the efficiency of the procedure, this essay also reinterprets current Taiwan’s statutes and reimagines, under which the court may first rule on whether the defendant is liable for damages. Only when the court finds the defendant liable does the court publish a notice inviting other victims to join in the collective action and appoint the named plaintiff to sue on their behalf. Collective Redress requires a significant amount of manpower and monetary resources, but the resources that are available to the consumer qualified groups in Taiwan remain inadequate. Regarding the collective settlement, the current Taiwanese law also fails to adequately specify rules to strengthen both the due process guarantee of the group members and the judicial review.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

본 논문은 대만의 소비자 집단적 피해구제제도에 대한 전체적인 검토와 제안을 제공하기 위한 것이다. 금전적 피해구제에 관하여 본 논문에서는 원고적격 및 절차에 있어서 대규모 손해 및 소액의 분산된 손해를 구별하여야 한다고 주장한다. 적격이 있는 단체는 개별 소비자의 위임이 없더라도 소비자의 전체 그룹 권한으로 소액의 분산된 손해에 대한 집단소송을 제기할 수 있으며, 손해배상은 개별 소비자에게 분배하지 않고 특별기금에 지급될 수 있다. 절차의 효율성을 높이기 위하여, 본 논문은 대만의 현행 법령으로도 법원이 먼저 피고의 손해배상 책임 유무를 먼저 판단할 수 있는 것으로 재해석한다. 법원이 피고에서 손해배상책임이 있음을 인정한 경우에만 법원은 다른 피해자에게 집단 소송에 참가하도록 권유하는 통지를 게시하고 집단을 대리하여 소송을 수행할 원고를 임명한다. 집단적 피해구제에는 상당한 인력과 재정적 자원이 필요하지만 대만의 적격 소비자 단체가 이용할 수 있는 자원은 여전히 ​​불충분하다. 집단적 화해와 관련하여, 대만의 현행법은 또한 집단 구성원에 대한 적법절차 보장과 사법심사를 강화하기 위한 규칙을 적절히 규정하고 있지 아니하다.

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