电子商务平台单方变更合同的法律规制——兼论《电子商务法》第34条之局限

电子商务平台单方变更合同具有普遍性和频繁性。由于平台服务协议的持续性、技术性、丰富性和交叉补贴等特点,既有格式条款规制制度难以发挥效用。《电子商务法》确立了平台单方合同变更权与相对方单方合同解除权,并辅以意见征集和先期公示规则。但平台的特殊地位使相对方对其具有依赖性,导致单方解除权缺乏抑制平台滥用单方变更权的实际作用;征求意见与先期公示又缺乏真正的约束力;特殊提示义务则被实质性地抛弃。建议加快制定《电子商务法》配套制度,强化对平台变更合同的内容控制,扩大“禁止滥用相对优势地位”的适用范围、细化其规范对象,明确并分类分级设置平台的特殊提示义务。

Regulation on Unilateral Contract Modification by E-commerce Platform: Also on the Limitation of Article 34 of Electronic Commerce Law

Unilateral contract modification of e-commerce platform is universal and frequent. Due to the persistence, technicality, richness and cross-subsidy of the platform service agreement, the existing regulation system on standard terms is difficult to be effective. Electronic Commerce Law establishes the unilateral modification right of the platform and the unilateral cancellation right of the counterparty, supplemented by the rules of solicitation of opinions and early publicity. However, the special status of the platform makes the counterparty depend on it, which leads to the lack of practical effect of the unilateral cancellation right to inhibit the abuse of the unilateral modification right. Solicitation and early publicity are lacking of real restraint. And the duty of special reminding is substantially abandoned. It is suggested to speed up the formulation of the supporting system of the Electronic Commerce Law, strengthen content control of platform unilateral contract modification, expand the application scope of "prohibition against abusing comparative advantage status", detail its regulation object, set up and specify the special platform reminding obligation at different levels.