論數位時代下消費者保護立法對個人賣家之影響

消費者保護法向以「企業經營者對消費者」（B2C）交易為適用對象，並呈現強勢賣方和弱勢買方此一規範特色。但在進入數位時代後，受惠於資訊科技普及運用與C2C交易等新興商務模式的多元發展，過往僅作為消費者的個人也開始頻繁地扮演賣家角色。從90年代網路拍賣到近年蔚為風潮的社群商務與共享經濟，大量湧現的個人賣家應否以企業經營者視之並適用消費者保護法，持續受到各界關注與議論。本文研究發現國際組織及主要國家多肯認在符合特定條件下，個人賣家可得視為企業經營者，惟相關標準則因網路商務模式的更迭而產生若干差異。國內亦有函釋指出個人賣家有視作企業經營者之可能，而其適用消費者保護法的前提在於所涉交易活動須非偶一為之，惟「偶一為之」與「常態性」交易之間究應如何區分，國內迄今未有進一步之判斷標準。個人賣家是否常態性從事交易以及可否以企業經營者視之，本文建議參酌國際組織及主要國家觀點建立「常態性個人賣家」之一般性判斷標準，並思考與傳統商品交易有別的「勞務提供」型態下之相關判斷因素；揆諸國內實務發展，亦可評估以營業稅課徵門檻作為國內在此一問題判斷上之量化標準。而國際上併同關注的弱勢個人賣家保護必要性問題，本文認為應進一步檢視造成個人賣家處於弱勢地位之原因，若源於終端消費者以外之第三方，即逾越消費者保護法所應處理之範疇。

When the modern consumer protection laws were enacted since Mid-20th century, consumers almost acted as buyers and businesses acted as sellers. As a result, these laws reflect a model of strong sellers and weak buyers. With the rapid development of commercialization of the internet in 1990s, electronic commerce has changed people’s daily lives and the face of business. Because of changing market conditions and new business model such as C2C transactions, consumers have increasingly taken on the role of sellers. The emergence of large numbers of consumer sellers raised an important issue toward the application of consumer protection laws: Should consumer sellers be treated as“traders”and how to distinguish traders and individuals from them. From online auction to the social commerce and sharing economy, international organizations and main countries have kept thinking about appropriate estimate factors. In Taiwan, the Consumer Protection Committee once interpreted individuals could treated as“traders”if they trade frequently, but still lacking related standard about frequently and un-frequently. Toward this issue, in addition to taking into account the estimate factors proposed by international organizations and main countries, the author also suggest adopting the tax threshold of business tax as the standard of distinction of traders and individuals among consumer sellers.