Study on the Application of the Principle of Autonomy in the Choice of Law for Cross-Border Electronic Commerce Contracts

跨境电子商务合同主体地位的特殊性导致目前意思自治原则在其法律选择的适用中存在合意虚化危机。部分跨境电子商务平台凭借技术优势通过格式条款单方面预设选择外国准据法，这会致使消费者的法律选择权被实质剥夺。我国《涉外民事关系法律适用法》第42条虽然确立了消费者经常居所地强制性规范的优先效力，但缺乏对平台选择法律程序的制约机制，这使得意思自治原则可能成为经营者规避国内保护规则的工具。比较欧盟经验可见，《罗马条例I》通过“最低保护标准”设定权利底线，《消费者权利指令》以透明度机制消除跨境电子商务合同主体之间的信息不对称，二者协同构建了形式意思自治与实质保障的双层体系。针对我国意思自治原则在跨境电子商务法律选择适用中的困境，可以从立法、司法以及执行等不同层面分别进行完善改进，通过不同层面意思自治原则适用的协调同步，最终在保障跨境交易效率的前提下，实现法律选择中意思自治原则从形式上的意思自治向实质意思自治的转变。The special status of the subject of cross-border e-commerce contracts has led to a crisis of consensual deflation in the application of the principle of autonomy in the choice of law. Some cross-border e-commerce platforms, by virtue of technological advantages, unilaterally presuppose the choice of foreign applicable law by means of form clauses, which will result in the substantive deprivation of the consumer’s right to choose law. Although Article 42 of China’s Law on the Law Applicable to Foreign-related Civil Relations establishes the priority of mandatory norms in the place of the consumer’s habitual residence, there is a lack of constraints on the platform’s choice of law procedure, which makes the principle of autonomy of meaning a tool for operators to circumvent the domestic protection rules. Comparing with the experience of the European Union, the Rome Regulation I sets the bottom line of rights through the Minimum Standards of Protection, and the Consumer Rights Directive eliminates the information asymmetry between the subjects of cross-border e-commerce contracts through the mechanism of transparency, which builds a two-tiered system of formal autonomy and substantive safeguards in a synergistic manner. In view of the dilemma of the principle of autonomy in cross-border e-commerce law application, it can be perfected and improved at different levels, such as legislation, justice and implementation, etc., so that through the coordination and synchronization of the application of the principle of autonomy at different levels, the principle of autonomy in the choice of law can be realized from the formal autonomy to the substantive autonomy of the principle of autonomy in the premise of safeguarding cross-border transaction efficiency.