Staff from the Trademark and Advertising Section of the Xuanwu District Industrial and Commercial Bureau of Beijing are inputting corporate breach of trust records into the system. The databases of law enforcement agencies such as industry and commerce are constantly improving, laying a good foundation for establishing a punishment system for untrustworthy enterprises.
Since ancient times, we have been a nation that attaches great importance to integrity morally. "Guanzi·Shu Yan" says: Honesty is the knot of the world; Confucius also said: "If people don't have faith, they don't know what to do." Everyone hopes to live in a society that emphasizes integrity, follows the rules, and has smooth circulation. , everyone hopes to deal with, do business and make friends with honest people, but breach of trust or even fraud will inevitably occur. How to make dishonest people receive due punishment has become an important part of the construction of the social credit system.
Protected by the law
Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wang are a couple. In early 2004, they went to work in a shoe factory in Daxing District, Beijing. Later, the shoe factory dismissed them on the grounds of closure. People were laid off but their wages were never paid. The two appealed many times to no avail, so they took the shoe factory to court. On April 29, 2006, after a trial, the court made a judgment that the shoe factory should pay the wages and economic compensation owed to the couple. On the same day, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court pronounced a batch of labor dispute cases, and eight workers received favorable legal judgments.
To allow dishonest persons to be punished by relevant laws and increase the cost of dishonesty, the mandatory binding force of the law must become an important means to regulate market order and create an honest society. At present, our country does not lack hard legal constraints on untrustworthy behavior. For example, the General Principles of Civil Law, Contract Law, Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and Consumer Rights Protection Law all have legal principles of honesty and trustworthiness. The Criminal Code also provides for the imposition of penalties for crimes such as fraud.
Lack of integrity manifests itself in various forms in economic life, but in the final analysis it is nothing more than fraud and breach of contract. Breach of contract is regulated by the civil legal system based on the Contract Law in our country.
The punitive measures for the defaulting party under my country's contract law are mainly compensation for the damage caused, and the principle of full compensation for property damage is pursued. The liability of the untrustworthy party and all damages caused by the untrustworthy behavior. The scope of the victim's total losses should include both positive losses and negative losses, that is, the reduction in the value of existing property and the loss of due benefits.
There is still controversy in the theoretical circles as to whether the untrustworthy party should bear non-property damages, that is, mental damages. Some scholars believe that as far as our country's legislative provisions are concerned, it only stipulates that victims who have been infringed on their rights to name, honor, name, reputation, and portrait can request compensation for mental damages, and breach of trust does not fall within this scope. Chen Yanjing, a doctor of economic law at Tsinghua University, believes that the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Determination of Liability for Mental Damage in Civil Torts" promulgated by the Supreme People's Court in 2001 expanded the scope of mental damage compensation, and breach of trust should be included. As a natural person who is the subject of a credit relationship, it is unquestionable to request compensation for mental damages when his or her rights are infringed upon.
The "Anti-Unfair Competition Law", "Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law", "Price Law" and other laws to maintain market order are used by market regulators to punish dishonest persons for fraudulent behavior in market transactions. Administrative sanctions will be imposed. If the essence of the lack of credit is that the untrustworthy party only wants to have rights but is unwilling to perform its obligations, this will inevitably directly or indirectly challenge property relations and property rules. Therefore, dishonest people and enterprises must pay a heavy price. Only by making the losses outweigh the gains can we standardize their economic behavior and assume their due legal responsibilities. And due to the well-known "difficulty in enforcement", the intensity of punishment for "broken trust" has been greatly reduced.
Difficulty in implementation is a comprehensive problem caused by many factors and is a special phenomenon in the period of social transformation. There are problems with the imperfect legal system and the influence of local protectionism. There are also factors affecting the low quality of trials in some cases, and there are also problems with enforcement staff improving their execution skills. Solving enforcement difficulties is not a matter for the court alone, and comprehensive measures should be taken to solve it. It is necessary to provide strong support and cooperation in terms of systems and measures to form a synergy.
By solving the problem of difficulty in enforcement, it will lead to the improvement of the integrity and credibility of the whole society, and through the establishment of an enforcement deterrence mechanism, it will lead to the construction of a social integrity system.
“Legal means have their own limitations in punishing untrustworthy behavior.” Jia Ruoshan from China University of Political Science and Law believes that first, laws and regulations can only judge and punish individual behaviors and cannot be exhaustive. All untrustworthy behaviors only serve as a deterrent and establish a model of behavioral judgment and punishment; secondly, the cost of punishing untrustworthy behaviors through judicial procedures is too high, including time costs and economic costs. Including personal costs and national judicial costs.
The invisible hand comes into play
In March 2002, "Nanjing Guanshengyuan", a well-known enterprise with a history of 70 years, officially launched bankruptcy proceedings. After the hidden secret of using aged stuffing to make mooncakes was revealed, Guanshengyuan's related products suffered a huge market impact. The industrial and commercial department went into the factory to investigate, and the health and epidemic prevention department conducted repeated tests. "Nanguan" mooncakes were withdrawn from counters nationwide. In addition to mooncakes, other products of Guanshengyuan, such as yuanxiao and pastries, were also implicated. The "Chen stuffing incident" caused the corporate image of Nanjing Guanshengyuan to plummet. After half a year, the debt has reached more than 20 million yuan, and the loans owed to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications alone amounted to more than 5 million yuan. The company's own assets were only 6 million yuan, and the company finally had to file for bankruptcy.
This is how the market reacts to a dishonest enterprise - what the regulatory authorities and the law cannot do, the market does, it declares the "death" of the enterprise; consumption in the market Participants such as investors and operators have responded naturally to untrustworthy behavior in their own way and have also punished them. Dr. Zhang Zheng from the Credit Research Center of Peking University said: "The market's punishment of dishonesty is a direct punishment and an instinctive punishment of the market economy, but it may also be the most severe punishment!"
Nanjing Crown After the Shengyuan "Chen stuffing incident" was exposed, the company was shunned by consumers and shunned by collaborators, and went bankrupt due to lack of integrity. The breach of trust not only did not allow Guanshengyuan to make huge profits, but on the contrary caused it to lose everything. "Never forget the past is the guide for the future." The examples of dishonesty being punished in the market are enough to serve as a warning to other operators. However, there are still many examples of financial punishment due to lack of integrity in the market. Some companies dare to risk being severely punished by the market for breach of trust.
“It is not that those who are dishonest are not afraid of market punishment, but they have a fluke mentality and feel that it is impossible to be made public. They continue to engage in dishonest behaviors under the control of this fluke mentality.” A credit management company in Beijing Mr. Wu from the company believes, “But the situation is indeed like this. The dishonest companies that have been exposed in the market are basically exposed by the media through accidental clues or channels and their own investigations, and then the market reacts strongly. . However, many dishonest people do not believe that this kind of accident will happen to them."
"The market will not actively screen and punish dishonest people. characteristics and flaws," Zhang Zheng said. If companies such as Guanshengyuan and Oudian did not rely on the power of the media, the market's punishment for dishonest behavior would be negligible and would probably be based on the victims and insiders and their limited scope of activities. Fundamentally speaking, it is far from enough to rely solely on the passive reaction of the market to effectively punish breach of trust and establish a trustworthy society.
Visible hands are proactive
In December 2004, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce announced that 262 companies were "credit bankrupt" and revoked their business licenses in accordance with the law. A few days later, Hangzhou City also announced a list of more than 8,000 "credit bankrupt" companies and removed them from the list of legal operators. Companies that have been declared "credit bankrupt" include those who fail to repay money they owe, and those who manufacture and sell counterfeit goods.
Penalties such as fines and revocation of business licenses are effective actions taken by administrative departments to punish market dishonesty. This method is simple and easy to implement, and it is immediate and effective. It can make the dishonest people immediately financially Loss of profits or closing the business and leaving.
Among them, the revocation of a business license is the most severe among the existing administrative punishment methods. Due to its severity, there are great restrictions in its application. Administrative departments mostly deal with untrustworthy behavior through fines. Mr. Zhang from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce said: "The reason why some companies dare to make and sell counterfeit goods and engage in commercial fraud and other dishonest behaviors is that in addition to making huge commercial profits, another important reason is that the cost of dishonesty for the company is too low. A large number of pass Fines are what matters, and for some operators, a small amount of money is nothing!”
The reason why some companies dare not be honest is because integrity requires investment of time and cost, and they need to be given up. A lot of short-term benefits. Currently, although buyers are in an advantageous position in the market game with sellers, honest companies are in a relatively disadvantaged position when competing with dishonest companies. Why? Our country's external corporate integrity supervision and management mechanism is not sound, and the punishment for corporate breach of integrity is not effective enough. When a company violates the law of integrity, it can still gain economic benefits, and even gain more than it loses in the short term. To condone companies that violate integrity is to be unfair to companies that abide by integrity. Give up integrity, avoid high costs, choose dishonesty, and choose a way of survival that violates social ethics but is profitable. This is the reason why some companies are dishonest.
Two years ago, Zhejiang Province began to comprehensively implement corporate credit supervision, and the credit records of all companies are monitored in real time. Industrial and commercial departments at all levels are responsible for the credit supervision and evaluation of various enterprises within their jurisdiction and affix a credit label to each enterprise. According to regulations, it is divided into six grades: AAA, AA, A, B, C, and D, which respectively represent excellent, good, stable, volatile, low, and bankruptcy credit. If you want to know the credit status of enterprises in Zhejiang, you can directly log on to the portal website of the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce or the Zhejiang Enterprise Credit Network. It is understood that as of the end of 2005, 7 provinces and 4 municipalities across the country have implemented classified supervision system-wide. 5.1 million companies have been classified by corporate credit rating, and classified companies account for 66.5% of the total number of companies nationwide. Half of the networked units for enterprise credit classification supervision in the entire system have basic information on 6.39 million enterprises.
Based on market operations, government departments conduct credit ratings on enterprises and make them public at the same time. This is indeed a good and effective way for government departments to punish "distrustful ones" in the market. Establish a credit disclosure system and make the credit records of enterprises public. Under a complete credit disclosure system, most people will choose to be honest and trustworthy. Because people will worry about being accidentally recorded on the "blacklist", a domino effect may follow.
It is understood that the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has constructed the enterprise credit supervision system as a systematic project, which is called the "Golden Credit Project." A person in charge of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said, “Administrative agencies for industry and commerce at all levels have put this project on their important agenda and are making unified plans and formulating practical implementation plans so that they can be implemented in a planned and step-by-step manner.” In terms of information network construction, industrial and commercial administrative agencies at all levels are unifying the indicator system and technical standards in accordance with the enterprise credit supervision indicator system and the requirements for implementing classified management, and are stepping up the development of national unified enterprise credit supervision software. In the future, based on this software, a unified credit supervision platform will be established to achieve full sharing of resources through the Internet. National networking will be achieved by the end of 2007.
A credit network woven by everyone
In early June 2005, the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee announced for the first time a blacklist of 46 households that had fraudulently purchased affordable housing. Because of forging relevant documents and falsely reporting family annual income, 46 families were disqualified from purchasing affordable housing and were not allowed to apply to purchase affordable housing again within two years, and were recorded in their personal credit files.
In the fall of 2005, China Merchants Bank issued a credit card for college students - young card. If the user of the young card has good credit, China Merchants Bank will issue a credit report for them when they graduate.
If the young card issued by China Merchants Bank fails to repay the debt or malicious overdraft, it will leave the stain of bad credit in the database. Even after graduation, this college student will have to deal with any bank and apply for a car. Loans and housing loans will be subject to strict assessments and restrictions, and may even be listed as refused customers. The reason why China Merchants Bank dares to roll out this "credit network" across the country is that the integrity supervision mechanism is the hero behind the scenes. In mid-December 2004, the personal credit information basic database was opened for online query in all commercial banks in seven cities including Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Nanning, Mianyang, and Huzhou. By the end of 2005, the personal credit reporting system had covered the entire country. No matter where or where someone left a stain on their integrity, they would most likely be turned away from dealing with banks in the future. The credit card swiping and repayment status of the young card are directly included in the national personal credit information basic database, and this database is accessible to all commercial banks nationwide.
By recording the behavior of dishonest persons, a joint moral defense of the whole society is formed. The punishment of dishonest persons penetrates into daily life, increases the cost of their transactions, and creates alienation and alienation among the communicating groups. Reduced and possibly even socially isolated. This credit penalty mechanism established within the whole society will not disappear with the bankruptcy or suspension of business. Once business operators or citizens have bad credit records, they will follow them in their daily social life. Social credit records Punishment will cause all dishonest persons to have obstacles in business registration, bank loans, credit consumption, job hunting, and even in daily life.
In developed countries, everyone has a "personal credit file", which can be checked by banks, companies or business objects through certain procedures. If you have a bad credit record, such as arrears in rent, water, electricity and phone bills, non-repayment of loans, writing bad checks, etc., you will be better than a "clean person" when applying for a loan, applying for a credit card, opening a bank account, installing a phone, renting a house, and applying for a job. It's much more troublesome and even difficult to do; if your credit record is good, all aspects will be given a green light. This kind of green light and red light is not an early warning issued by the credit system itself, but a conclusion drawn by the credit reporting system through "communication" with the business system. Credit, to some extent, is like a virtual sword hanging over everyone's head. It has no edge in itself, but once it is connected with actual business activities and life, it will become a sharp weapon that can restrict everyone.
In my country's nationwide networked personal credit information basic database, personal credit files such as personal loans and repayments at commercial banks, credit cards, and guarantees are all recorded and stored in the database. If there are any credit stains, they will be processed in accordance with international practice. , once a bad record is recorded, it will last for 7 years and cannot be changed without authorization.
Dr. Zhang Zheng from the Credit Research Center of Peking University pointed out: "This social credit punishment mechanism is similar to moral punishment, but it is not completely equivalent to moral punishment. Moral punishment is the inner restraint and inner spirit, and This kind of punishment relies on external and social constraints. ”
The purpose of establishing credit records and credit systems is to put individuals’ untrustworthy behavior in economic life under the eyes of the whole society within a certain period of time. Social joint defense with the credit database as the link, and this kind of punishment is far more proactive than market punishment, has a longer-term impact, makes breach of trust more fearful, and should be more effective. But at the same time, a breach of trust puts the party's credit at risk of being underestimated for a long time. Personal credit reporting must also consider its dynamic and timely nature. Records of breach of trust are only records of past breaches of trust. The Beijing Enterprise Credit Information System has opened up a "credit repair" channel to guide market entities to repair their credit themselves. Enterprises with credit deficiencies are allowed to restore their credit by actively correcting illegal and untrustworthy behaviors with the help of relevant industry associations and intermediary organizations. After passing the prescribed assessment and evaluation, they are allowed to lift the restrictions on disclosure of untrustworthy behaviors and market ban in advance. .
The credit database is not the "final conclusion" for a person. After the credit situation improves, it will give the individual room to "make corrections" within a certain period of time. Some foreign practices may be worth learning from. For example, positive information in personal credit files can be saved forever, while negative information must be deleted after a certain period of time.
For example, bad records such as defaulted loans are required to be retained for a maximum of 7 years. Bankruptcy records are slightly longer and the retention period is only 10 years. After more than 10 years, what is considered the most serious negative information and the most outright debt evasion record must be removed from the consumer's credit file.
It is understood that my country’s credit database operations basically adopt the same principles. Because, always retain positive information and delete negative information in stages, and try to leave good things to society. Credit files actually believe in a principle of promoting good and suppressing evil.
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