民事交易關係上之反歧視原則－－德國一般平等待遇法之借鏡

Anti-Discrimination in Private Law-Legislation of German General Equal Treatment Act 2006

憲法所宣示的平等原則，在私人間之交易活動中亦有其間接適用，在我國已成通說。一般民事關係中，交易當事人因為相對人的國籍、種族、年齡、性別而拒絕締約或予以差別待遇者，並非罕見；在商業保險契約關係中，保險人也常以某些特定年齡或性別身心障礙者之被保險人係屬高風險族群為由，實施不同之加重保險費率或承保條件，嚴重者甚至拒絕承保。對於此等情況，契約當事人常主張契約自由，或成本、風險之差異，作為其差別處理的理由。但契約自由能否使得所有的差別待遇正當化，牽涉到其與平等原則及人格權保障之間的衝突問題。為了轉化數個以禁止歧視為目的的歐盟指令，德國在2006年底制訂「一般平等待遇法」，明文禁止某些類型之私法關係中的不利差別待遇，賦予被害人得請求除去侵害及損害賠償之權利，並設有若干例外事由。此等新法之背景、內容與實施成效，甚有研究價值，並可作為我國將來處理類似問題之借鏡。

The Equality of protection in our constitution has become a common theory among private parties' transaction indirectly. In general private law, it is likely that certain discriminations or unfair treatments were applied due to counterpart's nationality, race, age or sexuality. In such cases, contracting parties often advocate the freedom of contract or the different of cost and risk in order to apply different treatment. Whether the freedom of contract should justify the unfair treatment take into further consideration, which involves the conflict of fair treatment and the nondiscrimination of individual rights. 'The General Equal Treatment Act' in German law 2006 was based on the EU Directive's principle to prohibit disadvantages in certain forms of relations in private law and insurance contract. This gives victims the rights to remove the infringement, to claim their damages and also establish exception clauses. In conclusion, the background, content and implementation of this new act are wo rth researching and could be serve and apply in our domestic law for future references.