China's top economic planners recently began to solicit public opinions on a revised draft regulation on the hearing system for pricing.

Such an effort to increase openness, fairness and efficiency of public hearing on price-setting is badly needed not only because public complaints about rising prices are soaring nowadays but more important, because it will have huge implications for the long-term interests of the people.

China started to carry out its first regulation on public hearings on price-making in 2001, which stipulated that prices of electricity, railway and flight tickets, among others, should be determined after a hearing. The original regulation on pricing hearing has helped facilitate democratic decision-making and transparency of government pricing.

However, several problems have also come to the fore in recent years as the enterprises subject to public hearing on pricing played an overwhelming role in pricing their products or services. It has not been unusual to see some enterprise coming to the public hearing with neither a credible report on their costs nor a real choice for consumers.

The recent acceleration of consumer inflation only further added to the public's suffering from unreasonable pricing that put the interest of the suppliers far above that of the consumers.

Worse, the excessively high prices that enterprises charge for key goods and services will distort allocations of resources across the economy to undermine the country's long-term competitiveness.

The latest version of the regulation on public price hearing marked an important step forward in protecting the interests of the public by securing a bigger say for the consumers.

By stipulating that consumers should account for no less than one-third of the participants of the hearing, the new regulation will ensure, at least, an equal voting right for the public alongside the government and the enterprises.

By allowing media coverage and the presence of observers, the draft regulation also has made it difficult for the enterprises to deceive in public hearings. Media coverage will put the enterprises under thorough scrutiny by not only those who attend the hearings but also the numerous consumers who care about their prices.

It is hoped that the wisdom of the masses will definitely make it more difficult for enterprises to sell their self-promoting price suggestions.

(China Daily July 17, 2008)