The General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission recently notified 23 typical cases (the fourth batch) of violating the negative list of market access, requiring all regions and departments to conduct comprehensive self-examination and self-correction, and earnestly study relevant experience and practices.
Places and units that took the initiative to carry out case investigation and rectification were commended.
The exclusive monopoly of shared (electric) bicycles is the focus of this notification, with a total of 15 cases, accounting for more than 65%.
Xuanwei City, Qujing, Yunnan, which the reporter paid attention to before, has become one of the typical cases because of the disguised setting of market access conditions in the form of renting and purchasing.
One of the backgrounds of this notification is that the ninth major inspection by the State Council was carried out in Shanxi, Hunan, Yunnan and other places in late August this year, and the shared (electric) bicycle market was the focus of the inspection.
According to industry sources, the inspection pointed out that some local governments exceeded their authority to set up shared (electric) bicycle franchises, forced service fees, and raised market entry thresholds.
These practices violate the requirements of the fair competition system, and the signs are spreading across the country, which urgently needs to be paid close attention to.
Notice from the National Development and Reform Commission: Multiple cases of illegal supervision of the shared bicycle market
A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission, in accordance with the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing the Business Environment and Reducing the Institutional Transaction Costs of Market Entities" (Guobanfa [2022] No. "Notification on Collection and Notification System" (Fagai Tigai [2021] No. 1670) related work requirements, together with relevant departments, local development and reform commissions and third-party agencies, investigate and deal with violations of the market access negative list, forming the " Typical Cases of Violation of the Negative List of Market Access and Handling Situation (Phase 4)" to be notified.
The National Development and Reform Commission requires all regions and departments to conduct comprehensive self-examination and self-correction against the cases listed in the notification, earnestly study relevant experience and practices, and take the initiative to carry out case investigation and rectification. Development and Reform Commission, Binzhou City, Shandong Province, Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, and Anyang City, Henan Province made commendations.
The development and reform commissions of Hunan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are required to work with relevant departments to strengthen supervision and guidance on the rectification of relevant cases in Zhangjiajie City and Qinzhou City respectively, to ensure that the problems are rectified in an orderly and effective manner, and the relevant situation is reported in a timely manner. The National Development and Reform Commission will continue to track and deal with the progress.
The 23 cases reported this time involve the access operation of travel agencies, transportation of construction waste, distribution of fireworks and firecrackers, etc.
These include: the cultural and tourism departments of Xishuangbanna Prefecture and Lijiang City in Yunnan Province failed to carry out examination and approval in accordance with relevant regulations due to the purification and rectification of the tourism market, which affected the access and operation of local travel agencies; Small-scale transportation companies carry out construction waste transportation operations locally; the Emergency Management Bureau of Bobai County, Yulin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region violates regulations and restricts the free distribution and operation of fireworks and firecrackers wholesale companies.
In the reported cases, there were 15 cases of violations of regulations on shared bicycles or shared motorcycles, accounting for more than 65%, involving Kunming and Dali in Yunnan, Zhangjiajie in Hunan, Binzhou and Gaomi in Shandong, Qinzhou in Guangxi, Suizhou in Hubei and other places.
The illegal supervision of shared (electric) bicycles in these places includes: signing exclusive strategic cooperation agreements, public auction of franchise rights, and restricting the access and operation of other shared (electric) bicycle companies.
Taking Binzhou, Shandong as an example, according to reports, the Binzhou City Administration has signed an exclusive strategic cooperation agreement with shared bicycle companies, restricting the access and operation of other shared bicycle companies.
Supervision report:
Some places exceed their authority to set up "franchise rights"
Shared (electric) bicycles can provide convenience for urban residents' short-distance travel and solve the "last mile" problem of mass travel. It has been regarded as an integral part of the urban green transportation system.
According to a report jointly released by Meituan and the China Institute of Regional Coordinated Development and Rural Construction of Sun Yat-sen University, the business model of shared motorcycles has great prospects in county-level cities.
Behind the "by leaps and bounds" is the accusation of "disorderly delivery".
Industry insiders told reporters that in order to do a good job in the management of shared bicycles, various places have introduced measures to limit the number of companies and the number of companies that use them to avoid violations of regulations by non-accessible companies. The amount of bicycle companies will be controlled."
Xuanwei City is the county-level city with the second largest population in Yunnan.
In May of this year, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Xuanwei City launched a public bidding for the six-year operating rights of 10,000 shared (electric) bicycles in 9 streets in Xuanwei City.
Because of setting market access conditions in a disguised form and restricting the access and operation of shared bicycle companies, Xuanwei has become a typical example of this notification.
Xu Shaofa, the mayor of Xuanwei City, previously explained to reporters that public bidding for the franchising of shared motorcycles is a manifestation of fair competition.
He pointed out that shared motorcycles are a new form of business, "it is convenient for the masses to travel, but it also brings management problems. If managed well, it is the city's landscape. If managed poorly, it becomes a burden on the city."
From 2018 to 2021, shared motorcycles are blowing out in various places.
Li Xiaoguo, an employee of a shared motorcycle company in Southwest China, said that the complex industry chain of shared motorcycles poses challenges to urban appearance management, traffic order control and public travel safety.
The pace of expansion has only slowed down after local auctions for the franchise rights of shared motorcycles.
The local government's auction of the "franchise rights" of shared bicycles is not only to strengthen supervision, but also to consider it from the perspective of financial replenishment. The spirit is contrary.
An article by a commentator on Guangming.com pointed out that shared bicycles, as a supplementary form of urban public transportation, have a considerable degree of "quasi-public nature", and their franchise rights cannot be auctioned in full compliance with market rules.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News exclusively learned that in August this year, the 14th inspection team of the State Council went to Yunnan to conduct inspections and investigations on the market access of shared bicycles. Enterprises charge high management service fees and set unreasonable entry thresholds for foreign enterprises, which violates the requirements of the fair competition system.
According to people who participated in relevant discussions, this supervision and investigation is part of the Ninth Supervision and Inspection of the State Council, and finally formed a special report.
The inspection team pointed out that it is difficult for enterprises in the shared bicycle market in Yunnan to "share".
How to break the game?
The inspection team gave 4 suggestions
Specific manifestations of the difficulties in shared bicycle sharing in Yunnan include: setting franchise rights beyond authority and setting up administrative licenses in disguise; designating state-owned enterprises as exclusive operators and forcing management service fees; setting unreasonable entry thresholds and forcing foreign companies to register locally.
The cases mentioned in the special report are mostly mentioned as typical cases in this report of the National Development and Reform Commission.
The inspection team further investigated and found that similar problems existed in many places across the country and were spreading, which to a certain extent triggered a wave of price increases for shared bicycles, which urgently need to be highly valued by relevant departments.
According to public information, the above-mentioned situation also exists in Linxiang District of Lincang City, Yunnan Province, Yanshan in Wenshan, Yuanmou and Dayao in Chuxiong Prefecture, Dayao, Yuxi Jiangchuan, and Luoping in Qujing.
People in the industry said that in the cities mentioned in the National Development and Reform Commission’s report, the phenomenon of unreasonable charges has been curbed, “We hope that relevant departments will continue to follow up on those cities that have not been canceled (unreasonable practices), further optimize the business environment, and reduce market entities. Sex transaction costs."
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News exclusively learned that the special report mentioned that according to the "Guiding Opinions on Encouraging and Regulating the Development of Internet Rental Bicycles" issued by 10 departments including the Ministry of Transport, the urban people's government is the main body responsible for the management of Internet rental bicycles (bicycle sharing) , we must give full play to our autonomy and creativity, implement measures according to local conditions and cities, and explore development models that are in line with local realities.
In response to the problems found, the inspection team urged Yunnan Province to immediately organize investigation and rectification.
Considering that such problems also exist to varying degrees in other provinces, the inspection team puts forward the following four suggestions:
The first is to further increase local financial support.
The second is to strengthen the top-level design of the management of the shared bicycle industry.
The third is to further improve the legality review and fair competition review mechanism.
The fourth is to deploy and carry out special inspections on violations of fair competition across the country.
The reporter noticed that, except for Qinzhou, Guangxi, the cases notified by the National Development and Reform Commission have all been rectified.
In September this year, the Kunming Urban Management Bureau invited three companies operating in Kunming to use technical means to cover the electronic fence area of shared bicycles in Chenggong District in light of their own operation and management practices, standardize the operation and management of shared bicycles in the area, and encourage Other market players have launched shared bicycles in Chenggong District, which complements the public bicycles with piles of Kunming Public Transport Group.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Liu Mumu
Intern Ma Ke from Kunming, Yunnan