Railway children’s ticket standards or age-based experts suggest that minors’ ticket purchase regulations should be refined
Don't let the law on protection of minors fall into place
□ Our reporter Zhao Chenxi
It should be a happy thing for a child to grow tall, but Zhang Chen has almost never enjoyed the "discount" because of this "advantage".
The 11-year-old Zhang Chen is 1.63 meters tall. This height makes him unable to enjoy the child ticket benefits every time he takes the train. Although his mother will explain every time, after all, the height is there, so he can only buy the full price ticket. .
In the future, the phenomenon of “different prices at the same age” may be changed in railway passenger tickets.
Recently, the National Railway Administration issued a notice for public comments on the "Railway Passenger Transport Regulations (Draft for Comment)", stating that the child ticket of railway passenger tickets will be changed from the height classification to the age classification, and the real-name ticket system will be implemented. Children aged 14 can purchase discounted tickets for children, and children aged 14 or above should purchase full-price tickets.
Yuan Ningning, an associate professor of China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the National Railway Administration has changed the traditional way of dividing by height to divided by age. The implementation of the relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors has highlighted the concern and protection of children's rights and interests. It is hoped that the revision of railway tickets can be used as a model, and the method of age division will also be implemented in other areas involving preferential ticket purchases for minors.
NPC deputies pay attention to children's ticket standards
As early as 2019, the topic of whether the railway child ticket standard should be revised has triggered discussions.
On June 1, 2019, 10 college students from the Law School of Hunan Normal University jointly issued an open letter to China National Railway Corporation.
According to the letter, according to relevant data from the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, from 1992 to 2002, the average height of 6-year-old urban boys in my country increased by 4.9 cm.
By 2012, it had increased by 3.7 cm, reaching 1.2 meters; the average height of 12-year-old children had exceeded 1.5 meters, and the average height of 14-year-old children had reached or approached 1.6 meters.
Call on the railway department to revise the rule that children's tickets are based on height rather than age.
The issue of the purchase standard of child tickets has also attracted the attention of many NPC deputies.
During the 2018 National People's Congress, Mo Zhaolan, a representative of the National People's Congress and a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the past 40 years, the height of children in my country has increased by an average of 8 centimeters, so that first-year primary school students in many areas cannot enjoy the free ticket discount when they take the train.
She suggested that in order to effectively protect children's fair rights and interests, "double standards" should be implemented to define children's free tickets or discounted train tickets, and on the basis of height as the standard, an age standard should be added to define children's free tickets or discounts.
During the 2019 National People's Congress, Zhang Li, deputy director of the National People's Congress and deputy director of the Anhui Veterinary Medicine and Feed Supervision Institute, also submitted suggestions to further promote the age-based child ticket standard.
"The rule of judging that children enjoy preferential tickets based on their height is more intuitive and easy for management departments that provide public services." However, Zhang Li pointed out that the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to protect the legal rights and interests of women and children. Compared with height, it is fair and flexible to determine whether to enjoy preferential treatment by age, which is more beneficial to children.
She suggested that when formulating preferential measures for children, the starting point should be to "maximize the well-being of children", and the standard for dividing adult tickets and children's tickets by age.
Article 45 of the revised Law on the Protection of Minors, which came into effect on June 1 this year, clearly stipulates that urban public transportation, roads, railways, waterways, air passenger transportation, etc. shall be free or discounted for minors in accordance with relevant regulations. price.
This means that child tickets are an exclusive benefit for minors, but the use of height standards prevents tall children from enjoying their due rights. In practice, conflicts and disputes between parents and staff often occur.
Yuan Ningning pointed out that Article 4 of the revised Law on the Protection of Minors clearly stipulates that the principle of "adhering to the principle that is most beneficial to minors" must be clearly stipulated. It embodies the spirit of the Minor Protection Law, and highlights the concern and protection of the relevant departments for children's rights and interests.
Minors should enjoy ticket discounts
The National Railway Administration's corrective actions on the age determination of "child tickets" won praise on the Internet, but Yuan Ningning noticed that in the limited age range, there is a certain conflict between the draft for comments and the relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors.
Article 2 of the Law on the Protection of Minors stipulates that the term "minors" in this law refers to citizens under the age of 18.
Article 45 of the Law on the Protection of Minors provides for the implementation of free or preferential fares for minors in railway and air passenger transportation.
"Combining these two provisions means that the law clearly requires that all citizens under the age of 18 be provided with free or preferential fares in terms of railway passenger transport." Yuan Ningning believes that in the current consultation draft, "at least 14 years old" The stipulation that “one-year-old children should purchase full-price tickets” obviously does not comply with the relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors and is worthy of discussion.
Tong Lihua, director of the Beijing Youth Legal Aid and Research Center, agrees.
He pointed out that the Law on the Protection of Minors is a higher-level law. Among them, the free or preferential policies for child tickets, and the regulations and policies issued by various departments should be strictly abided by.
Do not limit the scope of preferential ticket purchases for minors to be too "rigorous", and strictly follow the principle of the most beneficial to minors determined in the Law on the Protection of Minors, so that minors can enjoy the benefits they deserve. It is recommended to solicit opinions The draft also sets up corresponding preferential policies for ticket purchases for minors who have reached the age of 14 but not yet 18 years of age.
In response to this problem, there are also opinions that minors between the ages of 14 and 18 are almost the same as adults in terms of body size and height, and they have to occupy the same space and resources. It is understandable that there is no fare discount.
However, Yuan Ningning pointed out that the Law on the Protection of Minors gives minors of this age the right to enjoy preferential fares, and the regulations of relevant departments cannot deprive this right.
He suggested that the railway department can set a 30% or 20% discount for minors between the ages of 14 and 18, and strictly implement the relevant provisions of the Minor Protection Law.
Follow the principle of the most beneficial to minors
The proposed adjustments to railway tickets have also led many people to hope that age certification, a more scientific method of dividing children's tickets, can also be implemented in scenic spots, amusement parks and other places.
Compared with transportation agencies, the current preferential policies for children's tickets in various scenic spots and tourist attractions are more confusing.
During the survey, Zhang Li found that although ticket purchases for tourist attractions, amusement parks, and movie theaters are based on height, the specific discount standards for children’s tickets are mostly set by each charging unit, which also results in different discount standards. The same, for example, some parks are free of tickets for children under 1.2 meters, and some are free for children under 1.4 meters.
Article 44 of the Law on the Protection of Minors clearly stipulates that theaters, zoos, parks and other places shall be open to minors free of charge or preferentially in accordance with relevant regulations.
In the 2012 National Development and Reform Commission's notice on further implementing the preferential policies for ticket prices for young people, it is stipulated that all places that implement government pricing and government-guided price management are free of tickets for children 6 years of age and under or children who are 1.2 meters in height and under; Half-ticket for minors from 6 years old (excluding 6 years old) to 18 years old (including 18 years old), full-time university undergraduate and below degree students.
However, in actual implementation, there are deviations in the implementation of relevant policies in various scenic spots.
Taking Beijing as an example, the reporter found that some well-known scenic spots have different regulations during the investigation. The well-implemented scenic spots are free for children under 6 years old or under 1.2 meters in height, and minors between 6 and 18 years old. Half-vote is implemented.
However, there are also scenic spots that have adjusted the regulations. Only children under 1.2 meters in height can be exempted from the ticket, and some minors between the ages of 6 and 18 are directly equivalent to the "student ticket" that can be enjoyed by showing their student ID. ...
"These expressions may cause the minor discount ticket policy to be'out of shape'. For example, some minors may no longer be students. Without a student card, they will not be able to enjoy the corresponding ticket discounts in some scenic spots." Yuan Ningning pointed out, The law on the protection of minors has made a principled provision. Whether it is divided by age or height, a major premise is to follow the principle of the most beneficial to minors, so that all minors can enjoy the law. Granted rights.
In view of the inconsistency of children's fare-free standards and policies in various regions and industries, Tong Lihua believes that it is related to the lack of unified regulations at the current national legislative level. Most of them are regulated by various industries and localities. When revising the law on protection of minors, Tong Lihua once suggested Detailed regulations are made for the exemption and preferential purchase of tickets for minors.
In Yuan Ningning’s view, it is not appropriate to provide too much detail in the Law on the Protection of Minors. At present, there are provisions in principle. Whether it is passenger transportation or tourist attractions, there are respective competent departments. The Law on the Protection of Minors is stipulated in Article 44 Both Article 45 and Article 45 use the expression "should follow relevant regulations" for free or preferential treatment for minors, which means that relevant competent authorities should formulate specific implementation rules as soon as possible without violating the norms and spirit of the law.
While clarifying the age division, we should also pay attention to including all minors, and set free tickets or preferential rates in different stages.