行政機關主動公開消費資訊之法制與實踐──由歐洲法院C-636/11判決檢視我國消費資訊公開法制

Laws and Practices of Authority’s Voluntary Publication of Consumer Information ─ Examination of Consumer Information Publication Law in Taiwan from the Perspective of the Judgment C-636/11 of the European Court of Justice

台灣近年來的食品安全事件層出不窮，其所引發之諸多爭議均指向我國食品安全管理有必要進行全面性的重新檢視，而作為總是「食之而後覺」的消費者，如何在食安風暴中為自身健康安全把關？透過充足、暢通的消費資訊公開與流通，實為一得有效保障消費者的途徑。觀諸德國與歐盟資訊公開法制的演進，消費資訊公開之發展歷史屬相對年輕，其多由兩個不同的面向切入：其一為由政府依法主動公開相關消費資訊，此種情況多於相關法令中明訂其公開之要件；另一則為政府被動應人民之申請而公開相關消費資訊。本文欲將討論重心置於前者，並以歐洲法院於2013 年4 月11 日作成之C-636/11 判決為例，呈現德國及歐盟法中對於行政機關依法主動公開消費資訊要件的認定標準及其發展趨勢，藉此反應德國及歐盟，不論是透過消費資訊法制之建構，或是在司法實務之運作層面，皆傾向嚴格把關，展現不願妥協的態度。接續就我國現行消費資訊公開法制之規範內容及其實踐，進行相應之說明與檢視，並提出個人的觀察與建議，期得作為近年食品安全備受爭議的我國在食品安全總體檢時之參考。

In recent years, ongoing food safety problems arise frequently in Taiwan. These problems caused a lot of controversies which suggest there’s a need to re-examine our food safety management system. Since the consumers are usually “realizing after eating”, how could they ensure their own health and safety under food safety crisis? An adequate and transparent system of consumer information publication could be a proper answer to effective consumers’ Protection. Compared to the evolution of information publication law, the development history of consumer information publication law is relatively new in Germany and EU. Consumer information publication law can be discussed from two different aspects: one is that the authority voluntarily disclosures relevant consumer information by law. The important condition is usually expressed in relevant laws. The other aspect is that the government publishes related consumer information by people’s request. The discussion of this article focuses on the former. The judgment C-636/11 made by European Court of Justice on April 11 2013 will be taken as an example to present the Germany and EU’s identification criteria and development trend in terms of authority’s voluntary publication of Consumer Information, which also reflects that Germany and EU have the tendency of strict check system and show an “unwilling to compromise” attitude not only on the construction of consumer information laws but also the operation level o f justice practice. In the following, an introduction and review on the norm content as well as practices of our current consumer information publication law will be discussed. In addition, personal observation and suggestion will be proposed, which can served as the reference for total food safety examination in our country, which recently bothered by frequent controversial food safety issues.