Residents go shopping at a shopping mall in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, on December 11, 2022. Consumption gradually resumed after the release of optimized COVID-19 response measures. Photo: VCG

The Supreme People's Court of China on Tuesday issued two opinions on providing judicial services and guarantees for boosting consumption and stabilizing employment, vowing to bolster protection of consumers, employees as well as businesses.

In the opinion on providing judicial services and guarantees for boosting consumption, the court listed 30 items in four areas, including strengthening the judicial protection of the rights and interests of consumers, as well as producers and business operators, according to a document posted on the court's website.

It vowed to take the strictest measures to protect food and drug safety and strengthen the protection of consumers' rights and interests in prepaid consumption. 

It also stressed plans to enhance the protection of consumers' personal information and properly handle disputes related to epidemic prevention.

For instance, if a business operator knows that masks, goggles, protective clothing, disinfectants and other epidemic prevention goods are counterfeit and shoddy, yet still sells them, it constitutes fraud. If consumers ask to rescind the contract or return the deposit and other expenses, the people's court shall support the requests according to the law.

Amid the nation's comprehensive efforts to invigorate the property industry, the supreme court also stated plans to protect the rights and interests of home buyers. It vowed to strictly protect housing sales contracts that have been established and effective in accordance with the law and maintain market order.

In addition to protecting consumers' rights, the court also vowed to enhance judicial protection of the rights and interests of producers and business operators, including strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights and ensuring the healthy and orderly development of the platform economy.

During the past three years, business operators, especially medium-sized, small and micro-sized companies, have been hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic. It is crucial to shore up judicial protection of their rights and interests so as to enliven economic activities, Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Business Economics at the Beijing Technology and Business University, told the Global Times.

Hong called for more support for market entities to carry out their operations in accordance with the market situation, and coordinated policies with judicial protection to help boost their vitality.

The court also issued an opinion on providing judicial services and guarantees for stabilizing employment, including 14 measures in four areas. For instance, it vowed to promote the implementation of government policies that aim to ease businesses' burden so as to stabilize employment. 

It will also promote the implementation of financial policies in a bid to increase the employment capacity of the services sector and to protect the rights of employees in new forms of employment.

Against the backdrop of China optimizing epidemic prevention policies, it is crucial to stabilize employment and boost consumption, Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times.

Rolling out efforts from the perspective of judicial protection is a major step and could help cultivate a fairer environment for both employees and consumers, Dong said, noting that it is particularly important in the era of the internet economy and digital economy.