China News Service, March 16. According to the website of the National Development and Reform Commission, a person in charge of the Price Division of the National Development and Reform Commission recently answered questions from reporters about revising the "Central Pricing Catalog." The person in charge introduced that the pricing items of the new version of the "Central Pricing Catalog" have been reduced by nearly 30%. The first is to delete pricing items that have clearly liberalized prices or cancelled fees in recent years; the second is to highlight the direction of monopoly price supervision and the market-oriented reform of competitive prices;

Here is the full Q & A:

Relevant person in charge of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission answered reporters' questions on the revision of the "Central Pricing Catalog"

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a new version of the "Central Pricing Catalog", which has aroused the attention of all sectors of society. In this regard, the reporter interviewed a person in charge of the Price Division of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Question: Please introduce the main background of the revision of the Central Pricing Catalog.

A: The "Central Pricing Catalog" is a list that regulates the pricing authority and scope of relevant departments of the State Council. The current "Central Pricing Catalogue" was promulgated in 2015. It clearly specifies 7 categories (classes) of 20 products and services for natural gas, water supply for water conservancy projects, electricity, special medicines and blood, important transportation services, important postal services, and important professional services. The implementation of government pricing or government-guided price management has also identified 10 items of goods and services that are temporarily managed in accordance with current methods and will be released in a timely manner depending on the relevant reform process and the degree of market competition.

Since 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments have thoroughly implemented the spirit of the 18th and 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and in accordance with the requirements of "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting the Reform of the Price Mechanism" (Zhongfa [2015] No. 28), Continue to promote market-oriented reforms in the prices of important goods and services. With the continuous deepening of the reform and the increasingly perfect market system, the prices of some goods and services in the "Central Pricing Catalog" have been liberalized and formed by the market; the "Deepening Party and State Institution Reform Plan" in 2018 adjusted some pricing functions and set prices The pricing body of the project has changed. In accordance with the requirements of the Party Central Committee for the implementation of the government power and responsibility list system, and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Price Law, it is important to amend the Central Pricing Catalog in a timely manner to further clarify and standardize the relevant pricing subjects and pricing content.

Q: What are the principles for this revision of the Central Pricing Catalog?

Answer: This revision of the "Central Pricing Catalog" follows the following principles: First, consolidate the fruits of reform. Pricing items that have been explicitly liberalized in the price reform in recent years, or prices that have been explicitly cancelled, have been removed from the Central Catalog of Pricing. The second is to focus on monopoly links. It fully reflects the requirements set by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee that "the scope of government pricing is limited to important public utilities, public welfare services, and network-based natural monopoly links," and unswervingly promotes market-oriented reforms in competitive links. The third is to clarify pricing responsibilities. Based on the adjustment of departmental functions and name changes in the 2018 institutional reform, the pricing subject of some pricing items was adjusted to clarify responsibilities and boundaries of authority. Fourth, regulate pricing items. We will implement the requirements for the inventory of powers determined by the Fourth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party, refine the pricing content of some pricing items, improve the clarity and transparency of government pricing power, and facilitate social supervision.

Q: What are the main contents of this revision of the Central Pricing Catalog?

Answer: The pricing items of the new version of the Central Pricing Catalogue have been reduced by nearly 30%. Major revisions include:

The first is to delete pricing items that have explicitly liberalized prices or cancelled fees in recent years. Including part of railway passenger transport, part of railway freight, part of civil aviation passenger fare, parcel delivery fee, bank card credit card collection service fee, salt price, value-added tax control system products and maintenance service price, agent for Chinese citizens Due to the private visa service price, national reserve sugar and reserve meat transaction service price, and the commercial bank withdrawal fee, fishing port fee, domestic academic degree certification service fee, and citizenship authentication service fee that have been explicitly cancelled.

The second is to highlight the direction of monopoly link price supervision and competitive link price market reform. In accordance with the reform ideas of “opening the two ends and controlling the middle” of the price of electricity and natural gas, the “electricity” and “natural gas” projects were modified into “transmission and distribution” and “oil and gas pipeline transportation” according to natural monopoly links, and further reflected the Internet access. The direction of market-oriented reforms in prices such as electricity prices, sales electricity prices, and natural gas gate prices.

The third is to adjust the pricing department according to the institutional reform. The pricing department of "narcotic drugs and first-class psychotropic drugs" was changed from the "price department of the State Council" to the "medical security department of the State Council", and the pricing department of "the supply price of blood stations for clinical blood for citizens" Department "was changed to" Health Department of the State Council ".

In addition, some expressions of items such as basic transportation, water supply for major water conservancy projects, and important postal services have been revised and improved to promote the inventory and standardization of pricing items.

Q: What are the main pricing items retained after the revision?

Answer: The revised "Central Pricing Catalog" mainly includes 16 items in 7 categories, including power transmission and distribution, oil and gas pipeline transportation, basic transportation, water supply for major water conservancy projects, important postal services, important professional services, special drugs and blood. In accordance with the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Party, the scope of government pricing is strictly limited to the network-type natural monopoly link and important public utilities and public service areas. The government's pricing items to be retained mainly have the following considerations.

The first is the network-type natural monopoly link. It is a common practice in mature market economy countries to implement strict government price and cost supervision on network-type natural monopoly links. This reserved transmission and distribution, oil and gas pipeline transportation, water supply for major water conservancy projects, etc., belong to this category.

The second is important public utilities and public welfare services. Such pricing items involve basic people's livelihood needs, and are closely related to the interests of the people, such as residential and agricultural electricity, basic postal services, basic services of commercial banks, bank card processing fees, special medicines and blood.

Third, areas that do not have the conditions for market-based competition. For individual goods and services that do not yet have the conditions for market-oriented competition during the transition period, government pricing is temporarily retained, and the market-oriented reform direction is further clarified.

Q: What is the significance of the promulgation and implementation of the new "Central Pricing Catalog"?

Answer: The promulgation and implementation of the new "Central Pricing Catalog" will further promote the standardization, rule of law, and inventory of government pricing. The significance is mainly reflected in three aspects:

The first is to make better use of the decisive role of the market in resource allocation. The 19th CPC National Congress put forward a new direction of "flexible price response" to the reform of the price mechanism. Price is the core of the market mechanism. The liberalization of the pricing of goods and services that have been fully competitive or has the conditions for competition will help stimulate market vitality and promote high-quality economic development. Through the revision of the "Central Pricing Catalog", the achievements made in promoting price reform in recent years are clarified in the form of a catalog, which not only consolidates the reform achievements that have been achieved, but also lays a solid foundation for further deepening reform.

The second is to further clarify the relationship between the government and the market. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee proposed "implementing the government's power and responsibility list system to clarify the relationship between the government and the market, and between government and society." The new "Central Pricing Catalog" strictly limits government pricing to the price range of goods and services of the "important public utilities, public service and network-type natural monopoly links" specified by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Party, which is helpful to clarify the relationship between the government and the The relationship of the market in price formation. At the same time, the government's pricing responsibility system was further clarified.

The third is to deepen the administration and pricing according to law. The adjustment and disclosure of the "Central Pricing Catalog" has enhanced the transparency of pricing management of relevant departments of the State Council, facilitated the supervision of pricing work by all sectors of society, promoted government departments to further enhance the awareness of law-based administration and pricing, and the pricing reserved in the pricing catalog The project strengthens management strictly in accordance with laws and regulations, standardizes pricing procedures, improves administrative capacity according to law, and promotes the construction of a government ruled by law.