Innovative supervision methods to explore the establishment of multiple governance mechanisms
The proportion of vicious capital competition in the online car-hailing market remains high, expert advice
□ Our reporter Hou Jianbin
□ The reporter's trainee reporter Liu Xin
Recently, five departments including the Ministry of Transport conducted joint talks with 11 online car-hailing platform companies.
All platform companies are required to review their own problems and immediately rectify non-compliance behaviors.
It is worth noting that in response to the recent high concern of online car-hailing users and drivers, this interview has responded, such as "no use of vicious capital competition and disorderly expansion", and "standardized pricing behavior and reduced the percentage of commissions." "Wait.
A number of experts said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that online car-hailing platform companies use vicious capital competition, disorderly expansion, high platform commissions, and arbitrary price adjustments, which will harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and drivers, and they need to be effective. Regulations can promote the sound development of online car-hailing through multiple efforts and measures.
Vicious competition with capital may be held accountable
According to the statistics of the national online car-hailing supervision information exchange platform, there were 17 online car-hailing platforms with more than 300,000 domestic orders in July 2021, and the order volume of 14 platforms increased month-on-month in July. Among them, timely car use and The monthly order volume of four platforms including Sunshine Travel increased by more than 100%.
With the rapid expansion of online car-hailing platforms, problems and deficiencies have begun to be exposed.
In order to quickly seize the market, some platforms are under the influence of capital, through a variety of marketing methods, vicious competition, and even recruiting or inducing unlicensed drivers and vehicles to "bring cars to join".
Liu Ruzhong, a legal adviser to the Ministry of Transport and a member of the Expert Group of the Legal Work Committee of the China Communications and Transportation Association, said with concern that the use of capital for vicious competition and disorderly expansion will have many harms.
Vicious low-price competition has caused enterprises to fail to develop healthily. At the same time, a monopoly effect appears in the industry and effective competition is lost.
When the platform uses capital to dominate the market, consumers and drivers have to accept the platform’s overlord terms. Consumers may encounter problems such as sharp price increases, failure to call cars on peak trips, and the recently exposed use of big data. Drivers may encounter problems such as unreasonable dispatch of orders on the platform and excessively high percentage of commissions.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the China Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association, believes that some platforms are designed to seize the market and provide network operation services for non-compliant vehicles and drivers, which seriously endanger the personal and property safety of consumers.
So what are the legal regulations for these behaviors?
Professor Ren Chao of East China University of Political Science and Law said that in the face of this situation, laws such as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, Anti-Monopoly Law, and Personal Information Protection Law can all become powerful tools for regulatory authorities to regulate.
"If the platform abuses its dominant market position, eliminates and restricts competition, it may assume administrative responsibility for violating the anti-monopoly law; if the vehicle provided by the platform does not obtain an online rental car operation certificate, it may be liable for violation of the "Internet rental car operation service" "Administrative Responsibilities of the Interim Measures." Liu Ruzhong said.
The right to refuse to send orders is essentially emptied
"Currently, the law does not restrict the establishment of a quota, but the state has noticed that online car-hailing platforms have high quotas and arbitrary price adjustments." Liu Ruzhong said.
The Ministry of Transport stated that it will require online car-hailing platform companies to standardize their own pricing behavior, reduce the excessively high rate of drawing, and set an upper limit of the drawing rate.
So, has there been a drop in online ride-hailing rates recently?
"The rake rate should not have been reduced. I don't feel any changes." During the interview, an online ride-hailing driver complained to reporters. There is almost no autonomy to take orders. If there is no order on hand, the platform must accept the order.
"Judging from the existing precedents, in the case of Didi Chuxing Technology Co., Ltd. and China Ping An Property Insurance Co., Ltd. Heilongjiang Branch Motor Vehicle Accident Liability Dispute, the driver claimed that Didi had a 30% proportional fee. Both the court of first instance and the court of second instance held that, based on the current profit sharing situation, the percentage of each platform company's "express" type of operating vehicles is less than 30%. As for how this percentage is determined, the judgment does not clearly reflect. "Ren Chao told reporters.
Ren Chao said that, in fact, each platform company has an internal algorithm for the percentage of commissions. The company considers it to belong to its core competitiveness and trade secrets and will not disclose it to the public.
However, because the algorithm of drawing ratio concerns the interests of workers, it is necessary for worker representatives to negotiate and discuss with the platform, and to ensure a fair mechanism to determine a drawing ratio that is in line with the rights and interests of both parties.
Regarding how to determine the appropriate range of the drawing ratio, Liu Ruzhong believes that, first of all, the competent authorities in each region shall comprehensively consider the nature of work, labor intensity, work tasks, local average wages, market operating conditions and other factors, and reasonably determine the upper limit of the drawing ratio or the range of the drawing ratio. .
Secondly, the platform independently formulates system rules and platform algorithms that directly involve labor rights, such as order distribution, piece rate unit price, and percentage of commissions.
Finally, the proportional system rules and platform algorithms will be publicized to drivers and the society, and the opinions and suggestions of unions or driver representatives will be carefully and fully listened to.
In addition to the excessively high percentage, drivers often complain about the issue of order dispatch.
Ren Chao said with emotion, “On the issue of order dispatch, some facts can also be glimpsed from the above judgment. In this case, the driver of Didi said that there is no choice in taking orders. If two orders are cancelled in a row, they cannot continue to take orders. Therefore, Although drivers have the right to refuse to dispatch orders in form, in essence, such regulations evade the driver's right to refuse to dispatch orders."
Chen Yinjiang said that if the driver thinks that the percentage is too high, or that the rules for dispatching orders are not fair enough, they can make a reasonable request to the platform, or report the situation to the transportation department and request the competent department to investigate and deal with the behavior of the platform.
If there is sufficient evidence to prove that the platform infringes on its own rights and interests, it can also protect its legitimate rights and interests through litigation in court.
Multi-departmental supervision linkage forms a joint force
There are frequent chaos in the ride-hailing industry, how can we promote the healthy development of the industry?
In this regard, Chen Yinjiang put forward his own view, that is, to improve online car-hailing supervision laws and regulations, taking into account the development of the industry and practicability, and convenient to implement, to delineate the operating red line for online car-hailing companies, and to provide the supervisory authority with a supervisory basis.
Liu Ruzhong pointed out that supporting measures should be implemented as soon as possible.
According to the requirements of the "Guiding Opinions on Maintaining the Labor Security Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms", the Ministry of Transport should take into account the actual situation of the reform and development of the online car-hailing industry, and accelerate the introduction of specific measures in conjunction with relevant departments, such as setting the upper limit of the quota, Ensuring the implementation of drivers’ right to rest.
Ren Chao suggested to strengthen the coordination of multi-departmental supervision within the government, enhance communication and collaboration between different departments, form a supervisory force, and give full play to the advantages of each department.
Appropriate punishment mechanisms should also be introduced to punish government departments for “offside, absent, and misplaced” behaviors of supervision, and the results should be included in the annual performance appraisal of relevant departments in a certain proportion, so as to stimulate the internal motivation of the supervisory body. Effectively perform corresponding duties.
At the same time, establish a sound market access and withdrawal system, set up a corresponding market withdrawal list, promptly terminate and clear the illegal business activities of non-compliant platform companies and drivers, and eliminate the chaos in the management of online car-hailing platforms.
In this regard, Liu Ruzhong added that it is necessary to strengthen the supervision of law enforcement agencies and severely crack down on illegal operations.
Carry out special rectification activities, organize relevant law enforcement team members to conduct inspections in key areas such as train stations, bus stations, and hotels, find one, and investigate one, and severely crack down on illegal operations of online car-hailing.
Liu Ruzhong said that it is necessary to innovate regulatory methods and diversified governance mechanisms.
Combining the characteristics of the industry, explore the use of Internet thinking and information technology to innovate regulatory methods and improve regulatory effectiveness.
Improve the coordination mechanism, realize information exchange, resource sharing and action coordination, explore the establishment of a diversified governance mechanism involving government departments, enterprises, practitioners, passengers and industry associations, and jointly promote the healthy development of the online car-hailing industry.
"It is also very important to have unblocked channels for rights protection complaints, so that consumers and drivers can express their demands and report the situation, and respond to the problems in a timely manner." Chen Yinjiang reminded.