論商品房買賣中懲罰性賠償責任的法律適用

On the Application Law of Punitive Damages in the Real Estate Contract

面對商品房交易中層出不窮的欺詐行為以及2014年新修訂的《消費者權益保 護法》第55條加大懲罰性賠償責任力度的新形勢，最高人民法院《關於審理商品房買賣合同糾紛案件適用法律若干問題的解釋》(2003)有關懲罰性賠償責任的規定日益顯現出適用條件嚴苛、適用範圍狹窄等問題。在我國當前的司法審判中，法院多適用該司法解釋作為判決被告承擔懲罰性賠償責任的法律依據，而不適用《消費者權益保護法》第55條的規定，主要原因在於商品房買受人的消費者地位不明確、懲罰性賠償金額過高、法院存在適用法律的路徑依賴等。為完善商品房買賣中懲罰性賠償責任的法律適用，充分發揮懲罰性賠償責任的制裁、懲罰與激勵功能，應當明確以下兩點：商品房買受人的消費者身份；《消費者權益保護法》的效力位階高於司法解釋。同時，司法解釋應做相應修改：因商品房經營者欺詐行為導致購房消費者損害的，以購房消費者所受損失額作為懲罰性賠償金的計算基準，規定損失額三倍以下的懲罰性賠償金。

In the face of emerging fraud cases in commercial housing market and with the amendment of Article 55 in Consumer Protection Law to increase the compensation for punitive damage in 2014, the judicial interpretation of provisions on punitive damages is increasingly obvious that the applicable conditions are harsh in The Commercial Housing Judicial Interpretation (2003). The scope is narrow, the amount of compensation is too elastic and so on. We found the courts in the field of commercial housing sales apply more judicial interpretation of contract provisions about punitive damages than the Consumer Protection Law. The main reason why these courts do not apply Consumer Protection Law is that the real estate buyers' lack of consumer's status, the high amount of punitive damages, the courts' dependence on applicable law. In order to improve punitive liability for the application of law and fully apply punitive damages of punishment and incentive functions in the sale of commercial housing, we believe that Consumer Protection Law should be applicable in the field of commercial housing sales contract, the buyer (natural persons) of real estate should clearly have the status of consumers, the Consumer Protection Law's legitimacy rank is higher than Judicial Interpretation of Commercial Housing Sales Contracts, which determines the priority of punitive liability to apply Article 55 of Consumer Protection Law in the sale of real estate. The Commercial Housing Judicial Interpretation should be amended to provide no more than three times of the contracted housing price as the punitive damages, if the seller intentionally or negligently leads to consumer damage.