Last modified: 2023-10-05
Abstract
Over the past decade, the rise of online marketplaces has profoundly changed the retail landscape. The current pandemic has further accelerated the shift of consumers towards online purchases in general and online marketplaces in particular. As a result, traditional distribution chains have been replaced by market structures dominated by digital intermediaries. Although this development has increased consumer choice, it has also allowed the entry of unsafe and defective products into the consumer retail market. It is a matter of controversy as to whether and how product liability rules, which have been designed for traditional distribution chain models, can be applied to online intermediaries. The purpose of this study will explore how courts and lawmakers in Indonesia are trying to adapt existing product liability frameworks to the new realities of the platform economy. A comparative analysis was conducted in this study by looking at the regulations of Indonesia and other countries to see the regulatory strategies of the two countries. The results of the study found that India, China and the UK have rules regarding product accountability in the online sector and are still in the development stage. The same thing happens to the United States and Vietnam already have regulations on product liability in the online sector where their regulations have applied the product liability law system in the online sector based on absolute responsibility (strick product liability). While the existing law in Indonesia is still limited to offline product liability regulations and often this regulation is used in online product liability cases. This comparison of online sector product liabiliy laws is the basis for the Indonesian government in making new regulations that prioritize objective assessment and the rules made must be comprehensive under one definite legal umbrella.