A restaurant in Beijing overcharged 4 yuan and was fined 1,500 yuan. Is it wrong?
According to the Qixinbao APP, a corporate credit information platform, recently, a well-known fast food chain company in Beijing added an administrative penalty: On January 15, the restaurant sold two French-style biscuits with a price of 29 yuan at the actual price of 31 yuan. Full meal weekend package, a total of 4 yuan overcharged.
The money was refunded when the law enforcement officers checked, and there was no illegal gain.
The Beijing Changping District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau fined the restaurant 1,500 yuan.
It is understood that the reason the restaurant was fined was for violating the clearly marked price provisions of the Price Law.
The "Administrative Punishment Regulations for Price Violations" shows that if an operator violates the regulations on clearly marked prices, sells commodities at a higher price than the marked price or charges unmarked fees, he should be ordered to make corrections and his illegal gains will be confiscated, and a fine of less than 5,000 yuan may be imposed.
In this regard, some netizens said that the restaurant company was a little wronged by being fined 1,500 yuan for overcharging 4 yuan.
However, some netizens pointed out that the more well-known catering companies are, the more strictly they should be managed and take the lead in abiding by the law. Since they violate the law, they should be punished.
"Although this restaurant only added two yuan to the list price for each set meal, and only sold two copies, its behavior violated the provisions of Chinese law that commodities must be clearly marked. According to the provisions of the Price Law, it is reasonable and legal to impose a fine of 1,500 yuan on him," said Su Haopeng, a professor at the School of Law of the University of International Business and Economics and director of the Consumer Protection Law Research Center.
According to the Price Law, operators who sell commodities and provide services shall clearly mark the price in accordance with the regulations of the government pricing authority.
Operators are not allowed to sell commodities at an additional price in addition to the listed price, and are not allowed to charge any unmarked fees.
The Consumer Rights Protection Law also clearly requires that operators provide goods or services with a clear price tag; at the same time, it gives consumers the right to fair trade, and consumers have the right to quality assurance, reasonable prices, and correct measurement when purchasing goods or receiving services. Fair Trading Conditions.
Su Haopeng said that at present, the vast majority of goods and services in my country are subject to market-adjusted prices, that is, prices that are independently set by operators and formed through market competition.
Therefore, the pricing power is the scope of the market entity's operating autonomy, and government departments generally do not interfere.
However, operators must not violate legal requirements, and must not implement unfair pricing practices that damage consumers' rights and interests.
"The behavior of catering companies to increase the price of selling packages in addition to the listed price violates the relevant provisions of the Price Law and the Consumer Rights Protection Law, constitutes a price violation, and should bear corresponding legal responsibility." Su Haopeng said that according to relevant laws and regulations, If the operator violates the regulations on clearly marked prices, the supervisory department has the right to order corrections, confiscate the illegal gains, and impose a fine.
In addition, catering companies should also refund the overpayment of consumers to consumers.
Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China, said that this should be a problem caused by poor management of details in catering companies.
"Well-known catering companies should not make such mistakes, they should learn from them, strictly abide by the law, earnestly respect and protect the rights and interests of consumers, and establish a good corporate image. This also warns other chain catering companies to pay attention to corporate compliance construction, and cannot Ignore the management of franchise stores in order to expand." (Reporter Yang Zhaokui)