Punitive damages in consumer public interest litigation in China: an empirical study

With litigation socialisation development, an increasing number of civil litigation cases have taken on social functions. Against this background, a punitive damages system involving social interests has developed. Since the implementation of China’s consumer public interest litigation system in 2013, the number of cases involving punitive damages filed by procuratorates or consumer associations has steadily increased. These cases have mainly concerned the fields of food and medicinal product consumption. Regarding punishment and deterrence, Chinese judges generally hold a positive attitude towards a plaintiff’s request for punitive damages, which has no obvious correlation with plaintiff type, consumption type, or claim scale. In China, the calculation of punitive damages is related to the consumption field involved in the case. Most judges determine punitive damages in fields of food and medicinal product consumption as ten times the defendant’s total sales amount, and in the general consumption field, three times the defendant’s sales amount, but some judges choose to decide the specific amount at their discretion to avoid excessive punishment and ensure that damages are paid. Additionally, most judges believe that there is no relationship between punitive damages and administrative or criminal fines, or they only consider the defendant’s criminal or administrative punishment as a discretionary circumstance for determining punitive damages. Only a few judges believe that there is a correlation among the three, and advocate punitive damages and administrative or criminal fines to offset each other. Chinese judges have two main tendencies in judging the ownership and management of punitive damages; that is, punitive damages are handed over to the state treasury or allocated to special accounts. In view of judges’ understanding of the social attributes of punitive damages and the influence of the guidance of national documents in recent years, allocating punitive damages to special accounts for safekeeping and use, is becoming a growing trend.