The market supervision bureaus (departments and commissions) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
At present, affected by the international situation and the epidemic, there are abnormal price fluctuations in some fields.
In order to maintain the basic stability of market prices and regulate the law enforcement behavior of market supervision departments, the following guiding opinions are hereby offered on how to apply the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China", "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations" and other laws and regulations when market supervision departments investigate and deal with illegal acts of price gouging. :
I. Determination of the illegal act of price gouging
(1) If an operator has any of the following behaviors that promote or may promote the price of commodities to rise too fast or too high, the market supervision department may determine that it constitutes an illegal act of price gouging stipulated in Article 6, Item 1 of the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Violations of Pricing" :
1. Fabricating and disseminating information on production and purchase costs;
2. Fabricating and disseminating information about the shortage of supply or the surge in market demand;
3. Fabricating and disseminating information that other operators have raised or are preparing to raise prices;
4. The dissemination of information contains urgent or inductive terms such as "will raise prices in an all-round way", "price surge", etc., pushing up price expectations;
5. Spreading information to induce other operators to increase prices;
6. Fabricating or disseminating other information that promotes or may push commodity prices to rise too fast or too high.
(2) If a business operator has any of the following behaviors that promote or may promote the price of commodities to rise too fast or too high, the market supervision department may determine that it constitutes an illegal act of price gouging stipulated in Item 2 of Article 6 of the "Administrative Punishment for Price Violations" :
1. Operators in the production process, without justifiable reasons, do not sell the produced products in a timely manner, exceeding the normal storage quantity or storage period, and hoarding a large number of commodities with tight market supply and abnormal price fluctuations, and continue to hoard goods after being warned by the market supervision department of;
2. Operators in the production process, in addition to production and self-use, exceeding the normal storage quantity or storage period, hoarding a large number of raw materials with tight market supply and abnormal price fluctuations, and continuing to hoard after being warned by the market supervision department;
3. Circulation operators who fail to sell goods in a timely manner without justifiable reasons, exceed the normal storage quantity or storage period, and hoard a large number of goods with tight market supply and abnormal price fluctuations, and continue to hoard goods after being warned by the market supervision department.
If the operator is in the circumstances specified in the preceding paragraph, but it can be proved that his behavior is in accordance with the requirements of the government or relevant government departments to reserve or allocate materials, it does not constitute an illegal act of price gouging.
If the market supervision department has publicly warned against hoarding through announcements, meetings, interviews, written reminders, etc., it is deemed that the warning procedure has been completed in accordance with the law, and it is not necessary to give a separate warning.
(3) If a business operator commits any of the following acts of promoting commodity prices to rise too fast or too high, the market supervision department may determine that it constitutes an illegal act of driving up prices as specified in Item 3, Article 6 of the Administrative Penalties for Violations of Pricing:
1. In the process of selling commodities, forcibly tying commodities and substantially increasing commodity prices in disguised form;
2. Failing to increase the price of commodities, but unreasonably and substantially increasing the transportation cost or charging other unreasonable expenses;
3. Significantly increase the price of commodities when the cost has not increased significantly, or although the cost has increased, the increase in the commodity price is significantly higher than the increase in the cost;
4. Using other means to drive up prices and push commodity prices to rise too fast or too high.
The “substantially higher” and “significantly higher” in the preceding paragraphs shall be determined by the market supervision department in consideration of the operators’ actual operating conditions, subjective malice, commodity types, and the degree of social harm caused by the illegal act in the process of case investigation and handling. .
2. Application of law
If an operator constitutes an illegal act of price gouging, he shall be punished in accordance with Articles 14 and 40 of the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China" and Article 6 of the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Violations of Pricing".
An operator who falls under any of the following circumstances may be given a heavier punishment according to law:
(1) Fabricating or spreading false information about the tension between commodity supply and demand, causing market panic and pushing up price expectations;
(2) Using multiple means to drive up prices at the same time;
(3) The act of driving up prices lasts for a long time and has a wide range of influence;
(4) Having been investigated and punished for two or more violations of price gouging within one year;
(5) Forging, concealing or destroying relevant evidential materials;
(6) Obstructing or refusing to cooperate with the price supervision and inspection carried out in accordance with the law;
(7) Other circumstances that can be determined to be heavier in accordance with the law.
If an industry association or a unit providing services for commodity trading constitutes an illegal act of price gouging, it shall be punished in accordance with Article 6 of the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Violations of Pricing".
Operators who fail to implement statutory price intervention measures and emergency measures shall be punished in accordance with Article 39 of the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China" and Article 10 of the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations".
Where business operators collude with each other to manipulate market prices, resulting in a relatively large increase in commodity prices, penalties shall be imposed in accordance with Articles 14 and 40 of the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China" and Article 5 of the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Violations of Pricing".
3. Job requirements
(1) Adhere to administration according to law.
During emergencies such as natural disasters and public health events, the prices of emergency, epidemic-related materials, and important goods and services for people's livelihood may or may fluctuate abnormally.
The imbalance between supply and demand in the international and domestic markets will also lead to a sharp rise in commodity prices.
Under the above conditions, market supervision departments should make full use of market-oriented and legal methods to investigate and punish illegal acts such as price gouging in accordance with the law, and effectively maintain market price order.
(2) Improve the ability to handle abnormal price fluctuations.
Market supervision departments at all levels should improve the emergency response mechanism for abnormal market price fluctuations, improve emergency response plans, strengthen monitoring and early warning, closely grasp price trends, study and analyze price trends, improve the sensitivity of abnormal price fluctuations, and enhance the predictability and effectiveness of supervision , targeted.
(3) Strengthen supervision and law enforcement.
Market supervision departments at all levels should intensify market inspections, sort out complaints and reports in a timely manner, pay close attention to the problems reported by the masses, strengthen price supervision of key areas, key links, and key commodities, and investigate and deal with price-gouging and other price violations in accordance with the law.
Typical cases with serious nature and great social impact should be publicly exposed to play a deterrent and warning role.
(4) Give full play to the role of administrative guidance.
Market supervision departments at all levels should provide reminders and warnings through administrative guidance, administrative interviews, etc., do a good job in interpreting price supervision policies, urge and guide operators to operate in compliance with laws and regulations, and form good social expectations.
Pay close attention to public opinion on prices, respond to social concerns in a timely manner, release authoritative information, and maintain market price order.
(5) Do a good job in linking relevant policies.
Market supervision departments may refer to these Opinions when investigating and punishing the illegal acts of operators to drive up service prices.
The market supervision departments of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps may formulate specific implementation opinions based on these opinions.
If the market supervision department finds that the illegal behavior of the operator to drive up the price constitutes a crime, it shall transfer it to the public security organ in accordance with the law.
The "Guiding Opinions of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Investigating and Punishing Illegal Acts of Price Gouging During the Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia" (Guo Shi Jian Competition [2020] No. 21) shall be repealed at the same time.
This opinion shall come into force from the date of publication.
State Administration for Market Regulation
June 2, 2022