Legal regulation of over packaging of the hottest

Legal regulation of excessive packaging of products introduction in modern society, product packaging is of great significance to the development of enterprises and the progress of social economy. Because with the development of the socialist market economy and the continuous improvement and development of the scientific and technological level of enterprises, the enterprises that produce similar products have little difference in product quality, and the external quality difference of products will become the focus of enterprise competition. As a part of the external quality of products, packaging, known as "product facebook" and "silent salesman", has become an important chip to win the increasingly fierce competition. Therefore, in the new era, enterprises should attach great importance to the packaging of products when designing new products or refitting old products, so as to improve economic benefits. The packaging of products is decoration, which protects the containers or bandages of products, such as bottles, boxes, etc. [1]. Traditional packaging is to protect products, while modern product packaging should not only protect products, but also have six functions, such as beautifying commodities, saving costs, facilitating storage and transportation, facilitating measurement, guiding consumption, and improving added value. With the development of national economy, the expansion of foreign trade and the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for packaging of goods is increasing, and the requirements are also higher and higher. For a long time in the past, many export commodities in China's foreign trade often encountered the dilemma of "first-class products, second-class packaging and second-class prices" due to the poor packaging. In 2010, the annual sales volume of loaders in China exceeded 210000 units, and they were at a disadvantage in the competition. According to incomplete statistics, the loss caused by poor packaging was as high as 10 billion yuan every year. Since the reform and opening up, China's packaging industry has gradually got rid of the old disease of "poor", but it has moved to the other extreme - falling into the quagmire of "excessive" [2]

1 the meaning and causes of over packaging

over packaging is a kind of commodity packaging with excess function and value. Its performance is that it consumes too much materials, too large volume, high-end materials, luxury decoration and other decorative products, which makes it exceed the functional requirements of protecting and beautifying goods, giving consumers a sense of unworthiness and increasing the economic burden. Therefore, excessive packaging is the excess of protection function, convenience function, communication function and decoration function

how does over packaging come about? Where is the incentive mechanism? The author believes that there are three main factors that promote the trend of over packaging. First, the change of people's consumption concept. The rapid growth of the national economy, while increasing income, has improved people's living standards. People began to pay attention to the packaging of goods, gradually developed to pay attention to the packaging of goods, and even pay attention to the packaging of goods. In terms of food consumption, for the sake of hygiene and health, it has changed from bulk food to packaged food; For convenience, some foods have changed from packaging to small packaging; In gift consumption, people require beautiful and luxurious packaging. In the past, bulk commodities have gradually faded out of the market. People understand commodities, choose commodities, and identify commodities through packaging. The improvement of consumption ability is quietly changing people's consumption concept and changing people's concept of commodity packaging. Second, the result of excessive market competition. Before the reform and opening up, due to the poor packaging quality of our country, our export commodities were deeply harmed by "first-class products, first-class packaging, second-class prices", causing huge economic losses to our enterprises. After the reform and opening up, with the economic development and the improvement of people's living standards, first of all, all commodities are required to be packaged; Then, under the influence of fierce competition in the commodity market, of course, it is also related to other factors, such as the diameter and length of the transmission pipeline. In order to pursue higher benefits and use various methods to attract consumers, enterprises have sharply appeared in the market products with the imbalance between the packaging value and the content price value. Because some enterprises realize that packaging is the "coat" of their products, they pay more and more attention to the position of "promotion" function in packaging, and even exaggerate this function too much. In order to seize the market, merchants use the visual impact of exquisite packaging to attract consumers' attention and induce people's desire to buy, so as to increase the market share of goods to attract consumers [3]. Third, the expansion of commodity packaging functions. Market competition accelerates the renewal and upgrading of products, and the packaging of goods has become an important part of product research and development. The packaging function of modern commodities is not only to protect commodities, but also to identify commodity brands, reflect commodity values, and even give people artistic enjoyment. Sometimes the visual impact caused by the exquisite packaging has become a part of the function of commodities, and even a phenomenon similar to "buying pearls and returning pearls" has appeared. Some people buy wine for exquisite wine bottles. Many professional women use beautifully packaged beauty cosmetics to reflect their status. Well packaged health products are often given as gifts, and some people use the high price formed by the exquisite packaging of moon cakes to send out a friendship. The packaging of these goods has gone beyond the original purpose of packaging. It contains art, friendship and value. Some commodities can only reflect their value when combined with packaging. Some functions of packaging are integrated into commodities and become a supplement and extension of the value of commodity prices accounting for 6% of China's total extruder exports [4]

2 the legal nature of excessive packaging behavior

excessive packaging is essentially against the spirit of the law. The author believes that its illegal nature can be understood and analyzed from the following perspectives:

first, from the basic principles of civil law, the excessive packaging of producers violates the principle of good faith to a great extent. Honesty and credit is a moral rule formed in market economic activities and a reflection of market ethics and moral norms in civil law. It requires people to pay attention to credit, keep their promises, be honest and not deceive, and pursue their own interests without harming the interests of others and society. [5] Producers or businesses do not focus on the improvement of product quality and performance. Excessive packaging is actually trying to cover up the essence of inferior or low-cost content with gorgeous packaging, which is misleading and fraudulent to consumers and a manifestation of dishonesty

secondly, from the perspective of the principle of the anti unfair competition law, the excessive packaging of producers violates the provisions of Article 12 of the Anti Unfair Competition Law of the people's Republic of China, which is essentially an act of tying or attaching other unreasonable conditions. Because consumers originally wanted to buy content, but businesses attached valuable outer packaging to the goods - some even cost far more than the content, which not only violates the principles of voluntariness and fairness, but also the nature of operators relying on economic advantages to restrict competition

thirdly, from the perspective of consumer protection law, the over packaging of producers infringes on consumers' right to know the truth and their right to choose to a certain extent. According to the traditional economic theory, enterprises usually take profit maximization as the basic goal; Consumers usually aim at maximizing utility. There is an inherent conflict between the two in value goals [6]. In order to make profits, enterprises often hide information about the quality and price of goods or services through excessive packaging, which intensifies information asymmetry and market failure. Consumers' right to know has been ignored. At the same time, the origin of excessive packaging objectively inevitably restricts the rational exercise of consumers' right of independent choice

3 the practical harm of excessive packaging

3.1 in concept, it is contrary to the purpose of a conservation oriented society and circular economy

under the condition of market economy, the basic goal of excessive packaging of products is to maximize the profits of enterprises, which is caused by some production enterprises blindly pursuing the interests of enterprises and excessively improving the added value of goods, regardless of social benefits and consumer interests. The Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee clearly put forward the scientific development concept of people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development. Recently, the central economic work conference pointed out that it is necessary to enhance the national awareness of conservation, vigorously save energy and important resources, and accelerate the development of circular economy. Circular economy is entering the implementation stage from theoretical discussion in our country. Advocating circular economy and establishing an energy-saving society is the internal requirement of implementing the scientific concept of development, which is of great theoretical and practical significance for building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the strategic goal of the third step of development. The excessive packaging of products undoubtedly violates the requirements of the scientific concept of development in concept and runs counter to the purpose of developing an energy-saving society and circular economy. Therefore, this behavior conflicts with the overall interests of the country and society and should be stopped

3.2 in foreign trade, it is vulnerable to the restrictions of green barriers and is at a competitive disadvantage

green barriers refer to the trade barriers set up by some countries, especially some developed countries, in the name of environmental protection, to restrict or prohibit the import of foreign products. In international trade, countries around the world, especially some developed countries, have adopted legislation to formulate strict mandatory technical standards to restrict the import of foreign products that do not meet their ecological and environmental standards on the grounds of protecting the ecological natural environment and human health. Among them, the most important aspect of green barriers is packaging standards. The excessive packaging of products by Chinese enterprises will undoubtedly give lip service to those developed countries that implement ultra protective trade policies, and then be excluded in foreign trade and at a competitive disadvantage

3.3 objectively increases the burden on consumers and affects the long-term development of enterprises.

on the one hand, from the perspective of what should be, consumers are the dominant market, and the market is adjusted around the needs of consumers. However, the existing phenomenon of excessive packaging just violates this Law and damages the interests of consumers. Enterprises that over package their products simply want to earn more profits for consumers through the gorgeous appearance of their products. Over packaging is bound to raise the price of goods, and these exquisite packaging materials ultimately have to be paid by consumers. Consumers buy for the quality of products. However, due to the "overlord packaging" of enterprises, consumers have to pay unnecessary prices. The huge packaging costs are ultimately passed on to consumers, tangible and intangible damage to the interests of consumers, increasing the burden on consumers. On the other hand, the high packaging cost also implies huge business risks, which potentially increases the investment pressure and overstock costs of enterprises, and prolongs the capital turnover cycle. For some developing enterprises, it will shift the focus of enterprises to improve product quality and invest in the competition of outer packaging, which will eventually lead to the lagging development or even bankruptcy of many enterprises

3.4 waste resources and aggravate environmental pollution

first of all, from the perspective of the limitation of resources, excessive packaging, especially high-end packaging, will undoubtedly consume and consume a large number of trees and other resources, increasing the imbalance trend of the ecological environment. Take moon cakes as an example. Before the mid autumn festival every year, there are more than 500 million boxes of high-grade moon cakes produced nationwide. Only the high-grade packaging boxes (boxes) used for the packaging of these moon cakes require 2000~30000 trees with a diameter of 120mm. [7] Secondly, excessive packaging is not conducive to environmental sustainability. One sided pursuit of the added value of packaging leads to the use of packaging materials, some of which will cause environmental damage