Notice of the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission on Conducting the Special Inspection of Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices

Promulgating Institution:

General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission

Document Number:

Fa Gai Ban Jia Jian [2011] No. 1050

Promulgating Date:

05/11/2011

Effective Date:

05/11/2011

Validity Status:

Valid

Text

To the development and reform commissions and price bureaus of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities specifically designated in the State plan, sub-provincial capital cities and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as Shenzhen municipal market supervision administration:

The National Development and Reform Commission promulgated the Provisions on Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices (Fa Gai Jia Jian [2011] No. 548) on March 16, and subsequently printed and distributed the Notice on Matters Related to the Implementation of the Provisions on Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices (Fa Gai Jia Jian [2011] No. 658). The Provisions came into effect as of May 1. In order to ensure the practical implementation thereof, all areas shall immediately organize the special inspection of selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices. The relevant matters are hereby announced as follows:

1. Giving warnings

The competent price departments at all levels shall organize the real estate development enterprises within their respective jurisdiction to study the relevant laws, regulations, rules and normative documents including the Pricing Law, the Provisions on Administrative Penalties on Illegal Pricing Acts and the Provisions on Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices, give early warnings, and prevent the occurrence of violations, including failure to sell commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices, failure to comply with the relevant provisions in marking prices, price fraud, etc.

2. Strengthening work guidance

The competent price departments at all levels shall strengthen the guidance for real estate development enterprises, including the contents that shall be marked for sale of commercial housing, declared prices, and the measure of "one price for one house", notes for use of price tags, price lists, price manuals or electronic information screens, multimedia terminals and computer search indicates, etc.; shall thoroughly and meticulously guide and assist real estate development enterprises in selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices to reassure consumers.

3. Inspecting item by item

The competent price departments at all levels shall recently concentrate manpower and time to promptly organize the special inspection of selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices, and conduct comprehensive inspection on the commercial houses of the local real estate development enterprises for sale to ensure that each newly developed residential community, each building available for sale, or each newly built commercial house for sale are all inspected properly.

4. Defining inspection focus

The competent price departments at all levels shall organize the special inspection of selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices and focus on investigating and punishing the following acts of real estate development enterprises:

(1)Fail to sell commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices;

(2)Fail to expressly mark prices at prominent conspicuous positions of trading places;

(3)Fail to comply with the regulations of "one price for one house";

(4)Fail to make public all the commercial housing for pre-sale;

(5)Fail to mark complete information or failure to expressly mark prices and publicize the relevant charges in accordance with the provisions;

(6)Raise prices and charge additional expenses in addition to the marked prices and publicized charges;

(7)Impose mandatory charges or impose mandatory charges in a disguised way in violation of the principles of fairness, openness and voluntariness, either independently or in collusion with other departments and intermediaries;

(8)Falsify discounts and promotions, or use false information, ambiguous language or misleading prices to cheat consumers; and

(9) Other violations of the regulations on selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices.

5. Work methods

For the special inspection of selling commodity housing properties at expressly marked prices, the competent price departments at all levels may conduct direct inspection, next-lower-level inspection or cross inspection; find the relevant clues from the reports from the public and the sales ads of commercial housing, as well as through their active inspections; and take the flexible ways including public investigation, unannounced visit, centralized and random inspections, invitation of the news media for full coverage, etc., to ensure the actual effects of the special inspection.

6. Severe punishment in accordance with the law

While conducting the special inspection of marked prices in sales of commercial housing, the competent price departments at all levels shall investigate, severely punish and expose the violations in accordance with the law whenever they are discovered. If any real estate development enterprise fails to comply with the regulations of "one marked price for one house", a fine of RMB 5,000 shall be imposed for one house in accordance with the Pricing Law and the Provisions on Administrative Penalties on Illegal Pricing Acts. Where a violation constitutes price fraud, the enterprise involved shall be ordered to make corrections, the illegal gains thereof shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than five times the illegal gains shall be imposed; where there are no illegal gains, a fine of more than RMB 50,000 ,but less than RMB 500,000 shall be imposed; in some serious cases, the enterprise involved shall be ordered to suspend its operation for rectification, or the business license thereof shall be revoked by the industrial and commercial administration. We shall ensure the implementation of the Provisions on Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices through adopting severe punishment approaches.

For all experiences obtained or problems found during the implementation of the Provisions on Selling Commodity Housing Properties at Expressly Marked Prices, all local areas shall report them to the Department of Price Supervision under the National Development and Reform Commission in a timely manner.