The General Administration of Markets publishes 11 red lines for pharmacies, don’t touch

Prices are illegal, and new penalties for retail pharmacies are coming, involving clear price marking, price bidding, price fraud.

The General Administration of Markets issued a document to severely punish price violations

On July 2, the State Administration for Markets published the "Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Pricing Illegal Acts (Revised Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comments"), and publicly solicited opinions from the public

The draft opinion clarifies that in order to punish price violations in accordance with the law, maintain normal price order, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and operators, these regulations are formulated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Price Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Price Law”)

In accordance with the provisions of the price law, this law applies to price behaviors that occur within the territory of China, including commodity prices and service prices

Prices are illegal and frequent retail pharmacies

The author has noticed that since the outbreak of the domestic epidemic, in order to stabilize market supply and protect consumer rights, relevant departments have once again strengthened the rectification of price violations.

According to Guangzhou market supervision news, on June 4, 2021, law enforcement officers conducted an on-site inspection of a pharmacy on Shuguang Road, Xinhua Street, Huadu District, and found that the masks sold on-site by the parties were not clearly priced

At the beginning of this year, according to reports from the public, the Xinhua District Market Bureau inspected the Shijiazhuang Youan Pharmacy in accordance with the law

According to a report from Chinanews.

After investigation and verification, the pharmacy stockpiled a large amount of medical protective materials at a price significantly higher than the market price during the epidemic prevention and control period

Retail pharmacies, beware of 11 major price violations

According to the opinion draft, the author sorted out 11 major price violations, and all retail pharmacies must be vigilant

1.

The disposal of fresh and live commodities, seasonal commodities, and overstocked commodities in accordance with the law does not fall under the category of dumping at a price lower than cost as stipulated in Item (2) of Article 14 of the Price Law

2.

3.

Except for the circumstances specified in the preceding paragraph, business operators who collude with each other to manipulate market prices and harm the lawful rights and interests of other business operators or consumers shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of these regulations

4.

(1) Fabricating and disseminating price increase information to disrupt the market price order;

(2) Except for production and self-use, exceeding the normal storage quantity or storage period, a large amount of hoarded goods are not sold or sold in small amounts, and the hoarding continues after the price supervision and management department warns;

(3) Promoting the price of goods or services to rise excessively or excessively through methods such as compulsory tying, high-density charging, or substantial increase of other fees;

(4) Using other means to drive up prices and promote excessively fast and excessively high prices of commodities
.

Where units other than those specified in the preceding paragraph disseminate false price increase information to disrupt market price order and should be investigated and dealt with by other competent authorities in accordance with the law, the price supervision and management department may propose penalties in accordance with the law, and relevant competent authorities shall punish them in accordance with the law
.

5.
Price fraud: If an operator violates the provisions of Item (4) of Article 14 of the Price Law, uses false or misleading price methods to trick consumers or other operators into dealing with them, which constitutes price fraud and shall be ordered To correct, confiscate the illegal income and impose a fine less than 5 times the illegal income; if there is no illegal income, a warning will be given, and a fine of 1% to 10% of the sales during the period of the violation may be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, the business shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, Or revoke the business license
.

6.
Uplifting or lowering prices: In violation of the provisions of Item (6) of Article 14 of the Price Law, the operator adopts methods such as raising or lowering the grade to sell, purchase goods or provide services, and raise or lower prices in a disguised form If there is no illegal income, a warning shall be given, and a fine of 1% to 10% of the sales during the period of the illegal act may be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, an order shall be imposed.
Suspension of business for rectification, or revokes business license
.

8.
Failure to implement government-guided prices and government-fixed prices: If an operator fails to implement government-guided prices or government-fixed prices, and commits one of the following acts, he shall be ordered to make corrections, the illegal income shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than 5 times the illegal income shall be imposed; , May concurrently impose a fine of 1% or more and less than 10% of the sales during the period of the violation; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification:

(1) Setting prices beyond the government-guided price fluctuation range;

(2) The price is higher or lower than the government fixed price;

(3) Unauthorized setting of the prices of commodities or services within the scope of government-guided prices or government-fixed prices;

(4) Formulating pricing rules that belong to government-guided prices and government-set prices without authorization;

(5) bundling sales of goods and services subject to government-guided and government-priced goods and goods and services subject to market-adjusted prices;

(6) Advance or postpone implementation of government-guided prices or government-fixed prices;

(7) Self-supporting fee items or self-determined standard fees;

(8) Increasing the charging standards in disguise by adopting methods such as decomposing charging items, repeating charging, expanding the scope of charging, etc.
;

(9) Continuing to charge fees for charging items that the government has explicitly cancelled or prohibited;

(10) Charges in disguised form in the form of deposits, mortgages, etc.
, in violation of regulations;

(11) Compulsory or disguised compulsory services and charges;

(12) Charging fees for failing to provide services in accordance with regulations;

(13) Failing to implement government-guided prices and other behaviors of government pricing
.

9.
Profiteering: If the operator violates the provisions of laws and regulations to make profiteering, he shall be ordered to make corrections, the illegal gains shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than 5 times the illegal gains may be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, the business shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, or the business license shall be revoked
.
After the market is in short supply, abnormal price fluctuations, or emergencies, the price supervision and management department may formulate the identification standards and implementation rules for profiteering with the approval of the State Council
.

10.
Price violations in the new business format: Violation of Article 14 of the Price Law and one of the following circumstances shall be given a warning, and a fine of 1‰ to 5‰ of the total sales of the previous year may be imposed, and there are illegal gains , Confiscate the illegal income; if the circumstances are serious, order to suspend business for rectification, or revoke the business license:

(1) E-commerce platform operators use big data analysis, algorithms and other technical means, according to consumers or other operators’ preferences, transaction habits and other characteristics, based on factors other than cost or legitimate marketing strategies, for the same goods or services Different prices are set under the same trading conditions;

(2) In order to exclude competitors or monopolize the market, e-commerce platform operators who do not have a dominant market position use subsidies and other forms to dump at a price below cost, disrupt the normal order of production and operation, and harm national interests or other operators Of legitimate rights and interests
.

(3) Other improper price behaviors of e-commerce platform competitors as prescribed by administrative regulations and departmental rules
.

11.
Clearly mark the price: If an operator violates Article 13 of the Price Law and commits one of the following acts, he shall be ordered to make corrections, the illegal gains shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than 5,000 yuan may be imposed; it has not actually impaired consumers or other operators’ right to know If it is corrected in time, a warning or a notification of criticism will be given, or no punishment will be given:

(1) The price is not indicated;

(2) Failing to clearly mark the price in accordance with the prescribed content and method;

(3) Selling commodities at a price increase in addition to the marked price or charging unmarked fees;

(4) Other acts that violate the regulations on clearly marked prices
.