Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Price Behavior of Operators Chapter III Government Pricing Behavior

Chapter IV Regulation of Overall Price Level

Chapter V Price Supervision and Inspection

Chapter VI Legal Liability

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions Article 1: In order to regulate price behavior, give play to the role of price in rational allocation of resources, stabilize the overall market price level and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and operators.

article 2: this law is applicable to price behaviors that occur within the territory of the people's Republic of China. The prices mentioned in this Law include commodity prices and service prices. Commodity prices refer to the prices of all kinds of tangible products and intangible assets. Service price refers to the charges for various paid services.

article 3: the state implements and gradually improves the mechanism that prices are mainly set by the market under macroeconomic regulation and control. The formulation of prices should conform to the law of value. Most goods and services are subject to market-regulated prices, and very few goods and services are subject to government guidance or government pricing. Market-regulated price refers to the price set by operators independently and formed through market competition. The term "business operators" as mentioned in this Law refers to legal persons, other organizations and individuals engaged in producing and dealing in commodities or providing paid services. Government-guided price refers to the price set by the government price department or other relevant departments in accordance with the provisions of this law, and the benchmark price and its floating range are stipulated according to the pricing authority and scope to guide operators to set prices. Government pricing refers to the price set by the government price department or other relevant departments according to the pricing authority and scope in accordance with the provisions of this law.

article 4: the state supports and promotes fair, open and legal market competition, maintains normal price order, and exercises management, supervision and necessary control over price activities.

article 5: the competent price department of the State Council is responsible for the national price work. Other relevant departments in the State Council are responsible for the relevant price work within their respective responsibilities. The competent price departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the price work within their respective administrative areas. Other relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the relevant price work within the scope of their respective duties. Article 6: Commodity prices and service prices shall be subject to market-regulated prices in addition to government-guided prices or government-set prices in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of this Law, and shall be independently set by business operators in accordance with this Law.

article 7: the pricing of business operators shall follow the principles of fairness, legality, honesty and credibility.

article 8: operators' pricing is based on production and operation costs and market supply and demand.

article 9: business operators should strive to improve production and operation management, reduce production and operation costs, provide consumers with goods and services at reasonable prices, and obtain legitimate profits in market competition.

article 1: business operators shall establish and improve the internal price management system according to their business conditions, accurately record and verify the production and operation costs of goods and services, and shall not practise fraud.

Article 11: When conducting price activities, business operators shall enjoy the following rights:

(1) independently set prices that are regulated by the market;

(2) set the price within the range stipulated by the government guidance price;

(3) setting trial sale prices of new products within the range of government-guided and government-priced products, except for specific products; (four) to report and accuse violations of their right to independent pricing according to law.

article 12: when conducting price activities, business operators shall abide by laws and regulations, and carry out legally formulated government-guided prices, government pricing, statutory price intervention measures and emergency measures.

article 13: when selling, purchasing goods and providing services, business operators shall clearly mark the prices in accordance with the provisions of the competent pricing department of the government, indicating the commodity name, place of origin, specifications, grades, pricing units, items of prices or services, charging standards and other relevant information. Operators shall not sell goods at a higher price than the marked price, and shall not charge any unspecified fees.

Article 14: Operators shall not engage in the following unfair price behaviors:

(1) colluding with each other to manipulate market prices and harming the legitimate rights and interests of other operators or consumers;

(2) dumping at a price lower than the cost in order to crowd out competitors or monopolize the market, disrupting the normal production and operation order and harming the national interests or the legitimate rights and interests of other operators, in addition to handling fresh commodities, seasonal commodities and overstocked commodities at a reduced price according to law;

(3) fabricating and spreading price increase information to drive up prices and push commodity prices to rise too high;

(4) using false or misleading price means to trick consumers or other business operators into trading with them;

(5) Providing the same goods or services and discriminating against other operators with the same trading conditions;

(6) purchasing, selling goods or providing services by means of raising the grade or lowering the grade, and raising or lowering the price in disguise;

(7) profiteering in violation of laws and regulations;

(8) other unfair price behaviors prohibited by laws and administrative regulations.

article 15: all kinds of intermediary agencies shall abide by the provisions of this law when collecting fees for providing paid services. Where there are other provisions in the law, the relevant provisions shall prevail.

article 16: when selling imported goods and purchasing export goods, business operators shall abide by the relevant provisions of this chapter and maintain the domestic market order.

Article 17: Trade organizations shall abide by price laws and regulations, strengthen price self-discipline and accept the work guidance of the competent pricing department of the government. Article 18: When necessary, the government may implement government-guided prices or government-set prices for the following commodities and services:

(1) The prices of a very small number of commodities that are of great importance to the development of the national economy and people's lives;

(2) the prices of a few commodities with scarce resources;

(3) the commodity price of natural monopoly operation;

(4) important public utility prices;

(5) the price of important public service.

article 19: the pricing authority and specific scope of application of government-guided prices and government-set prices shall be based on the central and local pricing catalogues, which shall be formulated and revised by the competent pricing department of the State Council, and published after being submitted to the State Council for approval. The local pricing catalogue shall be formulated by the competent pricing departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government in accordance with the pricing authority and specific scope of application stipulated in the central pricing catalogue, and shall be published after being examined and approved by the people's government at the corresponding level and submitted to the competent pricing department of the State Council for examination and approval. Local people's governments at or below the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall not formulate pricing catalogues.

Article 2: The competent pricing department of the State Council and other relevant departments shall formulate government-guided prices and government pricing according to the pricing authority and specific scope of application stipulated in the central pricing catalogue; The government-guided prices and government-set prices of important commodities and services shall be approved by the State Council in accordance with relevant regulations. The competent price departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and other relevant departments shall formulate government-guided prices and government-set prices in their respective regions in accordance with the pricing authority and specific scope of application stipulated in the local pricing catalogue. The people's governments of cities and counties may, under the authorization of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, formulate government-guided prices and government-set prices implemented in their respective regions in accordance with the pricing authority and specific scope of application stipulated in the local pricing catalogue.

article 21: in formulating government-guided prices and government-set prices, reasonable purchase and sale price differentials, wholesale and retail price differentials, regional price differentials and seasonal price differentials shall be implemented according to the social average cost of relevant commodities or services, market supply and demand conditions, national economic and social development requirements and social affordability.

article 22: when formulating government-guided prices and government-set prices, the government price departments and other relevant departments shall conduct price and cost surveys and listen to the opinions of consumers, business operators and relevant parties. When the competent price department of the government conducts an investigation on the government-guided price, the price and cost set by the government, the relevant units shall truthfully reflect the situation and provide the necessary account books, documents and other materials.

article 23: when setting government-guided prices and government-set prices, such as the prices of public utilities, public welfare services and commodities operated by natural monopolies, which are closely related to the people's vital interests, a hearing system shall be established, presided over by the competent pricing department of the government, to solicit the opinions of consumers, operators and relevant parties and demonstrate its necessity and feasibility.

article 24: after the government-guided prices and government-set prices are set, the price-setting departments shall announce them to consumers and business operators.

article 25: the government-guided price, the specific scope of application of government pricing and the price level shall be adjusted in a timely manner according to the economic operation and in accordance with the prescribed pricing authority and procedures. Consumers and business operators can put forward adjustment suggestions on government-guided prices and government pricing. Article 26: Stabilizing the overall market price level is an important macroeconomic policy goal of the state. According to the needs of national economic development and social affordability, the state determines the goal of regulating the overall market price level, which is included in the national economic and social development plan, and comprehensively applies policies and measures in the fields of currency, finance, investment, import and export to achieve it.

article 27: the government may establish an important commodity reserve system, set up a price adjustment fund, regulate prices and stabilize the market.

article 28: in order to meet the needs of price regulation and management, the competent price department of the government shall establish a price monitoring system to monitor the price changes of important commodities and services.

article 29: when the market purchase price of grain and other important agricultural products is too low, the government may implement protective prices in the acquisition and take corresponding economic measures to ensure its realization.

article 3: when the prices of important commodities and services have risen significantly or are likely to rise significantly, the people's governments of the State Council and provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may take intervention measures such as limiting the price difference rate or profit rate, setting price limits, implementing the price increase declaration system and the price adjustment filing system. The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall report to the State Council for the record if they take the intervention measures specified in the preceding paragraph.

article 31: when the general market price level is in an abnormal state, such as violent fluctuation, the State Council may take emergency measures such as temporarily centralizing pricing authority and partially or completely freezing prices nationwide or in some regions.

article 32: after the circumstances of implementing intervention measures and emergency measures in accordance with the provisions of articles 3 and 31 of this law are eliminated, the intervention measures and emergency measures shall be lifted in time. Article 33: The competent price departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall supervise and inspect price activities according to law and impose administrative penalties on price violations in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

article 34: when conducting price supervision and inspection, the competent price department of the government may exercise the following functions and powers:

(1) to ask the parties concerned or relevant personnel and ask them to provide certification materials and other information related to price violations;

(2) Inquire and copy account books, bills, vouchers, documents and other materials related to price violations, and check bank materials related to price violations;

(3) inspect the property related to price violations, and order the parties concerned to suspend relevant business when necessary;

(4) If the evidence may be lost or difficult to obtain later, it may be registered and preserved in advance according to law, and the parties concerned or relevant personnel may not transfer, conceal or destroy it.

article 35: when accepting the supervision and inspection by the competent price department of the government, business operators shall truthfully provide the account books, bills, vouchers, documents and other materials necessary for price supervision and inspection.

article 36: the price staff of government departments shall not use the information or information obtained according to law for any other purpose than price management according to law, and shall not disclose the business secrets of the parties concerned.

article 37: consumer organizations, workers' price supervision organizations, residents' committees, villagers' committees and other organizations, as well as consumers, have the right to conduct social supervision over price behaviors. Government price departments should give full play to the role of the masses in price supervision. News organizations have the right to supervise the price by public opinion.

article 38: the competent pricing department of the government shall establish a reporting system for price violations. Any unit or individual has the right to report price violations. The competent price department of the government shall encourage the whistleblower and be responsible for keeping the whistleblower confidential. Article 39: Business operators who fail to implement government-guided prices, government-set prices, legal price intervention measures and emergency measures shall be ordered to make corrections, their illegal income shall be confiscated, and they may be fined not more than five times their illegal income; If there is no illegal income, a fine may be imposed; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification.

article 4: if an operator commits one of the acts listed in article 14 of this law, he shall be ordered to make corrections, his illegal income shall be confiscated, and he may also be fined not more than five times his illegal income; If there is no illegal income, it shall be given a warning and may be fined; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, or its business license shall be revoked by the administrative department for industry and commerce. Where there are other provisions in the relevant laws on the punishment of the acts listed in Article 14 of this Law and the punishment organ, the provisions of the relevant laws may be followed.

the acts listed in items (1) and (2) of Article 14 of this Law are national and shall be determined by the competent price department of the State Council; Belonging to the provincial and sub-provincial regions, it shall be determined by the competent price departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

article 41: if the business operator has caused consumers or other business operators to pay more because of price violations, it shall return the overpaid part; If damage is caused, it shall be liable for compensation according to law.

article 42: business operators who violate the regulations of clearly marked prices shall be ordered to make corrections, and their illegal income shall be confiscated, and they may also be fined less than 5, yuan

article 43: business operators who are ordered to suspend their related businesses without stopping, or who transfer, conceal or destroy the property registered and preserved according to law shall be fined between one and three times the value of the related business income or the property transferred, concealed or destroyed.

article 44: those who refuse to provide information required for supervision and inspection or provide false information according to regulations shall be ordered to make corrections and given a warning; If no correction is made within the time limit, a fine may be imposed.

article 45: local people's governments at all levels or relevant departments of people's governments at all levels, in violation of the provisions of this law, set or adjust prices without authorization, or fail to implement legal price intervention measures or emergency measures, shall be ordered to make corrections, and may be granted informed criticism; The directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be given administrative sanctions according to law.

article 46: price staff who divulge state secrets and commercial secrets, abuse their powers, engage in malpractices for selfish ends, neglect their duties, and ask for and accept bribes, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law; If it does not constitute a crime, it shall be punished according to law. Article 47: State administrative organs shall collect fees according to law, strictly control the charging items, and limit the charging scope and standards. The specific measures for the administration of fees shall be formulated separately by the State Council. Interest rates, exchange rates, insurance rates, securities and futures prices shall be governed by relevant laws and administrative regulations, but this Law shall not apply.

article 48: this law shall come into force as of may 1, 1998.