The list of goods and services priced by the State in the Law on Prices has shortcomings that should be revised in the near future.

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Revise list of goods to ensure flexibility in management

The list of goods determined by the State agencies is overloaded in specialized laws. Photo: Xuan Thao

The list of goods has overlaps

Currently, the Law on Prices provides provisions on determining goods and services priced by the State and stipulates the list of goods.

The price determination for the list of goods specified in the Law and guiding documents meets the requirements of state management, according to the Ministry of Finance.

However, regulations on the list goods still overlap in specialized laws, leading to an increase in the list of goods and difficulties in control.

The amendment to the list of goods and services has not yet meet the urgent progress in the current situation.

Currently, regulations on price of goods and services do not govern all goods in reality.

According to the Ministry of Finance, to adapt to social-economic development and integration, the control of price determination measures is required by international organizations.

Therefore, if the specialized law system continues to stipulate the list, it will be difficult to ensure the principles and mechanisms specified in the Law on Prices and lack of control, causing shortcomings for management agencies, businesses and people.

Proposing updating products priced by the State

Recently, the Ministry of Finance has proposed revising the list of goods to comply with principles of making policies and legal documents in a unified manner; ensuring flexibility in price management and administration in each period, meeting the requirements of economic management operating under the socialist-oriented market mechanism.

To achieve the goals, the Ministry of Finance has provided two solutions.

First, to review and revise to update items priced by the State to standardize or supplement new forms of price determination for each item in line with management requirements. This solution will not cause new administrative procedures.

The principle of determining the list of key, essential, monopolistic goods and services will be supplemented in Clause 19 of the Law on Prices.

The law provides strict regulations on the application of the list of goods subject to price determination to prevent adding unnecessary items to the list.

The adjustment of the list or competency for price determination will be performed in a unified manner by the Ministry of Finance.

Second, the ministry of Finance proposes maintaining the current regulations but revising the list of goods priced by the State in the Law on Prices and the competent authority for price determination. At the same time, amending the goods name in the list to be consistent with the law.

According to the ministry, each solution has positive and negative aspects, but the first solution will bring positive impacts and be in accordance with the market mechanism with state management. The ministry suggests amending the Law on Prices according to this solution.