CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yue Dai, Zhenghao Li and Xiaokun Yuan, King & Wood
danger”. Accordingly, the EV was considered defec - tive. In (2023) Su 12 Min Zhong No 1090 (decided by Taizhou Intermediate People’s Court, Jiangsu), the court faced another product defect claim concerning an AEB system. After investigation, the court found that the AEB system indeed had its limitations, as it was unable to detect certain targets in specific sce - narios, and the user manual clearly informed consum - ers of this risk. The court considered that the techni - cal limitations, being clearly notified to users, did not constitute an unreasonable danger and the product was not defective. The above two cases demonstrate that for emerg - ing technologies, in the absence of applicable safety standards, courts may assess the “consumer’s rea - sonable expectations for product safety” based on the marketing claims, product manuals, disclaimers, and technological development. Courts tend to adopt a more prudent approach when assessing the safety expectations of consumers, and technical limitations clearly notified to consumers in advance may not be viewed as defects. Public Interest Litigation Commenced by the Procuratorate On 15 March 2026, the Supreme People’s Procurator - ate and China Consumers Association jointly issued typical cases regarding public interest litigation for protection of consumer rights, one of which concerns litigation brought by the Xi’an People’s Procuratorate of Shaanxi Province. According to the case brief, a seller from Xi’an pro - cured and sold protein powder which did not con - tain sufficient nutrients as required by applicable standards. After accepting this case, the procura - torate conducted thorough investigations and found that the seller had been procuring these products at unreasonably low prices compared with the average prices of the market, suggesting that the merchant “should know” that the products sold did not meet the food safety standards. The procuratorate later ini - tiated public interest civil litigation against the seller before the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court, which later ordered the seller to issue a public apology, recall
the products in question and pay punitive damages of around CNY4.5 million. The appellate court upheld the decision. Public Interest Litigation Commenced by the Consumer Association and Supported by the Procuratorate On 15 March 2025, the Supreme People’s Procura - torate, together with China Consumers Association, released a collection of public interest litigation cases aimed at promoting the protection of consumer inter - ests. One of these model cases concerns civil public inter - est litigation initiated by the Shanghai Consumer Council and supported by the local procuratorate. According to the case brief, the consumer council brought proceedings against a seller of electronic cigarettes who violated the mandatory standards by adding additional flavours to the products, thereby increasing the risks of addiction and harm to human health. Notably, under a collaborative framework, the Shanghai Procuratorate supported the Shanghai Consumer Council in collecting evidence and filing a lawsuit, aiming to empower the consumer council in bringing public interest litigation. Ultimately, the court successfully concluded mediation, with the respond - ent making a public apology and paying public inter - est damages equal to its illegal gains to a specialised fund for consumer public interest litigation. 3. Recent Policy Changes and Outlook 3.1 Trends in Product Liability and Product Safety Policy In addition to trends reflected in the typical cases discussed in 2.17 Summary of Significant Recent Product Liability Claims , recent legislative updates on product liability and product safety policy are as follows. Emphasis on Recall Duties in E-commerce Scenarios On 13 June 2025, the SAMR released the Notice on Strengthening Regulation of Recall of Consumer Goods Sold Online. This Notice further clarifies the recall duties imposed on merchants operating on
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