Zhongxin Finance, April 30. On the 30th, the National Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement clarifying the behavior of operators in the coal field to drive up prices.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that price gouging is considered to be one of the important reasons for this round of irrational rise in coal prices.
If the coal spot transaction sales price of the operator exceeds 50% of the upper limit of the reasonable range of the medium and long-term transaction price specified in the relevant national or local documents, it is regarded as a "substantial increase in the price".
According to the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, the "Announcement" is based on the "Price Law", "Administrative Penalty Regulations for Price Violations", and "Implementation Measures for Administrative Penalties for Price Violations" and other relevant laws, regulations and policies, combined with the main characteristics of illegal activities in the coal field to drive up prices and outstanding problems, it clarifies the four specific manifestations of price gouging and their comprehensive considerations, such as coal operators fabricating and disseminating price increase information, hoarding, and raising prices substantially or in disguised form without justifiable reasons.
The details are as follows: first, fabricating price increase information; second, disseminating price increase information; third, hoarding;
Regarding how to judge "substantially increase the price", the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that since the document No. 303 has specified a reasonable range of medium and long-term coal transaction prices, this range is based on full consideration of costs and taking into account the upstream and downstream interests of coal and electricity. Therefore, based on the upper limit of the above reasonable range, the Announcement proposes that if there is one of the following situations without justifiable reasons, it can generally be regarded as price gouging:
(1) The mid- and long-term coal transaction sales price of the operator exceeds the upper limit of the reasonable range of the medium and long-term transaction price specified in the relevant national or local documents; (2) The coal spot transaction sales price of the operator exceeds the price specified in the relevant national or local documents. 50% of the upper limit of the reasonable range for medium and long-term transaction prices.
In this regard, relevant enterprises and associations in the coal and power industries believe that the above judgment criteria are in line with coal production costs and market supply and demand, and are in line with the long-term interests of both coal and power companies.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission believes that after the "Announcement" is released, it will play a positive role in the following aspects:
First, it is conducive to standardizing corporate behavior. The "Announcement" clarifies the red line of supervision and provides clear behavioral guidelines for coal enterprises. Coal enterprises should actively follow them and restrain their own business behaviors.
Second, it is conducive to social supervision. All sectors of society can report to the law enforcement departments for illegal and illegal behaviors such as price gouging by operators.
Third, it is conducive to strengthening law enforcement. The National Development and Reform Commission will pay close attention to the situation of the coal market, actively promote relevant departments to increase the supervision and inspection of market prices, and strictly investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations such as price gouging in the coal field, and typical cases are publicly exposed. .
Through the joint efforts of all parties, the coal market will return to rationality, the coal price will return to a reasonable range, the energy cost of downstream enterprises will be stabilized, and the economy will run smoothly.
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