China's First National Price Hearing Arouses National Discussions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 12, 2002

China's First National Price Hearing Arouses National Discussions

China will have its first ever hearing on price setting at the central government level in Beijing Saturday. The price hearing has aroused great interest and broad discussions throughout the country.

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China's First Price Hearing Opens in Beijing

China will have its first ever hearing on price setting at the central government level in Beijing Saturday. The price hearing has aroused great interest and broad discussions throughout the country.

The hot lines of the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) and most Chinese web stations give an indication of the tremendous national interest in the hearing, with questions comingin from the public focusing on specific items covered in the pricehearing.

Though China has had over 200 hearings countrywide, tomorrow'sgoverment-sponsored hearing will be the most formal.

Thirtythree representatives will participate in the hearing on railway ticket prices. They will be 12 representatives from the general public, 7 employees of the railway transport system, and 14 government officials, scholars and legislators.

An official from the SDPC said, prior to the price hearing, discussions were held throughout the country. The representatives will each have their say at the price hearing, and will focus on the pros and cons of raising ticket prices during the passenger transport's peak time around the Chinese Lunar New Year.

China's central television station CCTV will give live coverage to the entire proceedings of the hearing.

More than 100 million people travel by rail throughout China during the Spring Festival holidays every year, producing the largest seasonal rail passenger traffic in the world.

China enacted the Price Law in 1998, introducing the idea of public hearings into the process of price setting by the government. In August 2001, interim regulations on hearings on thegovernment decision on prices were put in force. And last October,the SDPC released a list of prices which are subject to hearings.

The Ministry of Railways has prepared well for this public hearing, and presented representatives with a 153-page document covering their transport and operation costs.

A ministry official said the railway sector hopes to be understood by consumers and the government, and has a flexible railway ticketing price system.

Most Chinese consumers said the public hearing is a new conceptin China, and are hoping that through the ticket price hearing, consumers will gain an open and transparent price system.

No matter what the result is, the price hearing offers Chineseconsumers a chance to be involved in governmental price setting procedures, which is a great improvement in the development of China's laws, said a Chinese legal expert.

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