On The Application and Improvement of the Cooling-off Period Clause in the Health Products Direct Selling Mode in China

Abstract

The direct selling model, after entering Chinese market, has gradually combined with health products industry and become its main choice. Despite the emergence of a series of problems, such as false advertising and pyramid schemes, the existence of the cooling-off period system has become a reasonable compensate for consumers’ information disadvantage in the market and an important legal way to clarify between direct and pyramid selling. As the direct selling market of health products continuously develops, it is hard for the relatively obsolete cooling-off period system to adapt to the current demand for direct selling transactions. According to the actual conditions in China, the paper borrows some legislation experience from other countries, studies the cooling-off period system as well as its application in our country and puts forward improving suggestions in terms of timeliness restrictions, transaction value and meaning expression limits and unified supervision of returns, classification of application and so on. Keywords—direct selling, health products, cooling-off period system, direct distributors, consumers I. OVERVIEW OF COOLING-PERIOD CLAUSE IN THE DIRECT