To promote the healthy development of the home building materials industry and protect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties to transactions, on the 6th the Xiamen Municipal Market Supervision Administration held an on-site meeting on contract compliance guidance for the home building materials industry, at which it released the "Xiamen Home Building Materials Industry Sales Contract (Recommended Text)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Recommended Contract Text"), and guided market operators and in-market business households to establish a long-term management mechanism for honest operation, so as to prevent contract disputes at the source.

　　Current situation

　　Home building materials consumption complaints

　　Over 40% caused by contract disputes

　　In recent years, Xiamen's building materials and home furnishing market has flourished. However, because home building materials products are of high value and highly individualized, they often involve a series of links such as measurement, design, production, delivery, installation, and after-sales service. For example, is it delivery to the door or delivery upstairs? How are upstairs delivery fees charged? How can an odor in custom cabinets be tested, and who pays the cost? What should be done if custom furniture is not installed as scheduled and the merchant refuses a refund? If building materials quality does not meet national standards or the agreed quality standards, can consumers demand a return or exchange, and how specifically should this be handled? If these details are not clearly specified in advance by both buyer and seller, consumer disputes easily arise.

　　From January to October this year, market supervision systems citywide accepted a total of 3,487 consumer complaints and reports involving the building materials industry. Data analysis by the market supervision department shows that contract disputes, product quality, and after-sales service issues rank in the top three in the volume of complaints and reports about home building materials. Among them, complaints and reports involving contract disputes accounted for more than 40%, and the main reason for disputes was that the contract terms signed by buyer and seller failed to meet the requirements of clarity, accuracy, fairness, and reasonableness.

　　"At present, the contracts used by many home building materials operators are merely order forms showing only simple content such as items, quantities, and amounts," Wang Hezuo, chief of the Market Section of the Huli District Market Supervision Administration, told reporters. These "contracts" are too simple in text and do not clearly specify major matters such as building materials quality, delivery and acceptance, after-sales service, and liability for breach of contract. For example, consumers may not have considered in advance whether newly purchased furniture can pass through the home's doorways and hallways, or how furniture is transported upstairs after being delivered downstairs. Because the agreement is unclear and the two parties understand it differently, disputes are easily triggered.

　　　Highlights

　　Adding a "quality contract" clause

　　Clarifying product quality standards

　　The "Recommended Contract Text" released this time specially adds a "quality contract" section, which clearly stipulates key information such as the warranty period and national standard provisions for products commonly involved in disputes, such as wooden flooring, ceramic tiles, and sofas, so that both parties to the contract can reach a consensus on the quality standards of the relevant products.

　　At the same time, the "Recommended Contract Text" also makes specific provisions on parts that easily cause disputes, such as the place of origin, specifications, materials, and batches of building materials; packaging and transportation methods and costs, and changes to matters related to the installation process; and the methods and costs of acceptance and testing. For example, in Article 1, "Basic Information on Purchased Building Materials," in addition to basic information such as the name, place of origin, brand, specifications and models, and price of building materials, a "Remarks" column is specially added to mark customized products, samples, and clearance products, etc. In Article 3, "Delivery Situation," clear provisions are made on whether the delivery method is distribution to the household, delivery downstairs, or customer pickup, and consumers are specially reminded to inform merchants of information such as elevator/stairway or door frame dimensions. The setting of these clauses, combined with the focus of disputes in building materials consumption, clarifies the responsibilities and obligations of both buyer and seller, especially the liability for breach of contract and dispute resolution methods of both parties, and effectively safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of both parties.

　　It is worth mentioning that the "Recommended Contract Text" adds requirements for the operators of home building materials markets. When in-market merchants breach contracts or the products they sell have obvious quality problems, the market operator shall be responsible for contacting the merchants and manufacturers to solve the problem for consumers; if consumers' rights and interests are harmed due to merchant breach of contract, manufacturer causes, or the relevant building materials being appraised as not meeting quality standards, the market operator must activate an advance compensation mechanism and pay compensation to consumers on their behalf.

　　"The recommended contract text released this time includes after-sales service management provisions covering the entire sales process such as delivery, shipping, deposit cancellation, return, and exchange. In addition, it is clearly stated in the liability for breach of contract that if a consumer unilaterally rescinds the contract for personal reasons, they shall also bear liability for breach of contract in different amounts according to different circumstances, such as paying the corresponding cost of services already provided by the merchant," said Li Shanshan, general manager of Arrow Bathroom in Jijiajia World. She believes that in addition to helping consumers protect their own rights and interests, the "Recommended Contract Text" also achieves specific and clear content and fair and reasonable terms in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of merchants, which helps better safeguard the rights and interests of both parties and lets consumers consume with confidence.

　　Measures

　　Promoting the recommended text citywide

　　Encouraging pilot advance compensation

　　Next, the market supervision department will gradually promote the "Recommended Contract Text" citywide, guide merchants to use it by reference in sales activities, and promote compliant operation and healthy development of the building materials and home furnishing industry. At the same time, the market supervision department will explore the implementation of full-process electronic contract management in the home building materials industry, encourage market operators to provide unified electronic contracts to in-market merchants, so as to facilitate tracking, handling, and analysis of contract performance information and reduce contract performance risks; guide market operators to establish online consumer rights protection service points (ODR), form consumer rights protection service teams, and cooperate in mediating consumer disputes within the market; and encourage market operators to pilot an advance compensation mechanism to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of both consumers and operators.