The National Assembly has just voted to pass the (amended) Prices Act effective July 1, 2024.

According to the Drafting Committee of the Price Law (amended), the development of the law project creates a stable and unified legal environment in the field of prices, promotes sharing and decentralization in price management, and improves the effectiveness of the law. State administration results in the field of awards, thus contributing to the promotion of productive and business activities of organizations and individuals.

TRANSFER OF EVALUATION RIGHTS OF SOME GOODS AND SERVICES TO A SPECIALIZED MINISTRY

Information on new points in the price law (amended) announced the Ministry of Finance. In Article 3, the principle of application of the Price Act has been added. Accordingly, the Price Act essentially regulates issues related to price administration, regulation and evaluation comprehensively, with the exception of some very special cases where there is a separate comprehensive regulatory law. in accordance with the provisions of specialist law.

In particular, for the list of goods and services for which the state sets prices, the Price Law adds the following criteria in addition to the three current criteria: “Essential goods and services have an exclusive character in the purchase. Sale or have a limited “competitive market and large impact on the socio-economic situation, people’s life, production and business” to be consistent with current practice.

Based on this, the list of goods and services regulated by the state in the Price Act has been updated with special laws, which are simultaneously regulated in the Price Act (amended).

“The difference from the current law is that in the revised law, which will be promulgated along with the list of goods and services that the state determines the price of in conjunction with the authority and the pricing method, the pricing method will be specified, transparent and facilitated. “Convenient for organization and execution,” the Treasury said.

Also, in the Price Law, many categories of goods and services have been removed from the list of goods and services priced by the state in order to conform to the market price mechanism. At the same time, two more goods and services are added to the list.

The list of delisted goods and services includes: flight operations support services, security screening services; a set of contents of the procedures for issuing certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other assets associated with land; domestically made cigarettes; remuneration for auction services; planning services; Brokerage commission, services for posting employees to work abroad…

In addition, in the revised law, the powers and responsibilities for pricing and determining the pricing method are closely aligned with the policy direction to strengthen the division and decentralization of state pricing management in general and state pricing in particular.

Accordingly, the law to abolish the valuation level lies with the government. Thus, the government’s role is only to control the objectives of general price administration and administration, issue or direct ministries to publish subordinate legislative documents in order to create a complete and favorable legal framework for the public. implementation organization

Such decentralization is consistent with the organization and implementation in practice and clearly demarcates the roles of ministries, branches and municipalities to facilitate implementation and avoid extrusion of responsibilities.

With regard to assessment methods, the law prescribes two groups of methods for each specific case.

In it, the Treasury announces the general pricing method for goods and services priced by the government. In the case of applying the general assessment method with specific content that needs guidance, line ministries and provincial-level people’s committees must make concrete proposals and submit them in writing to the Ministry of Finance for consideration. Issue guidance documents.

The line ministries take the main responsibility for the adoption of a separate method and coordinate it with the Ministry of Finance in those cases where the law provides for a separate method of assessment, such as. B. land prices; Prices for medical examination and treatment services; prices for educational services; some points under the intellectual property law…

ELECTRICITY, SALT, SUGAR REMOVED FROM THE PRICE LISTING

Concerning price stabilization measures, the Price Law remains essentially in line with the current regulations, when the list of price-stabilizing goods and services is detailed in the law and in case of an adjustment it is decided by the Commission. decided by the Standing Committee of The National Assembly.

“Specifically, for the list of price-stabilized goods and services, the price law adds animal feed and removes it from the list of electricity, salt and household sugar,” the Treasury said.

When special situations arise, the competent state authorities declare a state of emergency, report epidemics and damage caused by natural disasters. Accordingly, at the request of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and provincial-level people’s committees, the Ministry of Finance submits it to the government for submission to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for consideration and decision on policies and measures to stabilize the situation. Prices for goods and services that are not on the list within a given period.

The aim of this regulation is to provide flexibility for the implementation of price stabilization in urgent situations that need to be implemented urgently and in a timely manner to overcome past limitations.

At the same time, the law is being amended, supplemented and completed to define price stabilization measures more clearly, and the implementation process is convenient and consistent with reality.

When a sign identifying goods or services has fluctuations that rise too high or fall too low, affecting socio-economic, production and business levels, market price levels, or in cases where the state of the state is present. In exceptional cases, this announces epidemics and damage caused “In the event of natural disasters, the Ministry of Finance coordinates with ministries, branches and municipalities in order to submit the policy of price stabilization to the government for decision,” said the Ministry of Finance.

Regarding the scope of price negotiation, the most fundamental new point is the clear definition of the scope of price negotiation, which is only carried out between companies and companies with the role of state arbitrator. This regulation clearly shows the nature of the price negotiation measure aimed at promoting agreement between the parties, including the intermediary role of agencies and organizations to achieve the goal of harmonization of interests and to ensure communication between the parties. Transactions are processed transparently, according to the laws of the market economy.

On the other hand, the price law also clearly establishes the scope of the negotiated price to avoid cases where the negotiated price is exploited for other purposes inconsistent with the negotiation requirements and the sale and purchase case.

In order to remedy the current shortcomings, the law also stipulates that the declaration of organizations and individuals trading in goods and services must be made after a decision on the price, according to the editorial authority. This facilitates the practical implementation at the entity instead of the current rule that the declaration has to be made before the organization or individual dealing in goods and services decides on the price. This is one of the fundamental changes in the price declaration method in order to create favorable conditions for the declaration of the units.

Another new point of the price law is the synthesis, analysis and forecasting of market prices. This is content that is specifically institutionalized in a chapter of the law in order to create a legal basis for the implementation of the task.

In addition, price database regulations are also issued to strengthen the legal basis for the development of the national price database at the Ministry of Finance and ensure the connection with other agencies, ministries, branches and municipalities, which can well meet the needs of state price management and societal demands.

Linked to this is Chapter 7, which regulates price law compliance monitoring and price evaluation, with regulations on the principles, content and responsibilities of the units when carrying out price law compliance monitoring. Price enforcement, price assessment. This will strengthen the legal basis for monitoring and verifying compliance by organizations and individuals with price law…