《消費者保護基金》──以懲罰性賠償金作為其經費來源的可行性研究

“Consumer Protection Fund”--Feasibility study on taking punitive damages as funding source of consumer protection fund

有鑑於近年消費致害事件頻傳，消費者文教基金會及立法諸公們均提出各自的《消費者保護基金》草案版本，希冀藉由此一基金制度的創設以抑制致害事件的再度發生，並以之作為受害消費者損害賠償與消費者保護工作的相關經費。然細究此些草案版本的立法思維與技術後可知，其均係在規避現行大規模侵權行為「損害」難以證明的訴訟困境，而提出「不法利益返還訴訟」或「損害擬制」的法制設計，以試圖剝奪不肖業者的不法獲利，並以之作為《消費者保護基金》的主要經費來源。對此，本文以為此些草案版本，除了可能架空侵權行為訴訟並造成相關訴訟制度間之適用混淆外，且亦有違大陸法系填補性賠償制度的基本法理，甚而根本無助於《消費者保護基金》制度目的之達成。因此，當懲罰性賠償金制度實踐上有使不肖業者「得不償失」且亦具典範建立之效果時，輔以美國法上已有懲罰性賠償金數額分享的具體作法等情形下，本文即在研究該國各州相關規範與實踐缺失後，檢視我國法制背景而另闢蹊徑地提出一套以懲罰性賠償金數額作為《消費者保護基金》經費來源的具體作法，如此除了可以保留填補性賠償金制度之原本而避免法制破壞與適用混淆，且亦能夠真正落實《消費者保護基金》制度創設之目的。

As consumption damage events have frequently occurred in recent years, the Consumers’ Foundation and the legislators have proposed their own draft versions of “Consumer Protection Fund” in the hope that such a fund system can be set up to prevent the damage events from occurring again and the relevant funds can be used to cover up the expenses for consumer protection tasks and compensate the victim consumers for their damages. However, careful examinations on those draft versions have revealed that their legislative thoughts and techniques have aimed to avert in lawsuits the difficulty in proving the “damage” caused by the currently large-scale infringement behaviors and propose, instead, the legislation of “return of ill-gotten interests” or “damage formulation” so as to confiscate the illegal profits from the unworthy businessmen to serve as the major funding source of “Consumer Protection Fund”. This paper considers that those draft versions may not only invalidate the tort lawsuits, resulting in confusion in applying the relevant lawsuit systems, but may also violate the basic subrogation principles of compensation system in the civil law, resulting in a total failure to realize the purpose of “Consumer Protection Fund” system. As the punitive damage system makes unworthy businessmen aware that “the loss may outweigh the gain” and achieves the effect to establish the model while the relevant laws of the United States have already provided concrete methods for sharing the amount of the punitive damages, this paper has thus aimed to find another way to provide a concrete method to take the punitive damages as the funding source for our own “Consumer Protection Fund” in Taiwan by reviewing not only the background of law systems in our country but also the relevant regulations and the shortcomings in each state of the USA. In this way, the original principles of the subrogation compensation system can be retained to prevent the system from damage and confusion in applying the laws and regulations. Moreover, the object of establishing the “Consumer Protection Fund” system can be actually realized.