China's price regulators prosecuted more than 120,000 cases of illegal pricing and charges in the first 11 months of last year, a government official told a national meeting on price-supervision held in Wuhan Friday.
Prices and charges in rural areas, prices of medicines and medical services, and fees for vendors at open markets were separately rectified in 2002, said Wang Yang, vice-minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission.
A total of 2.1 billion yuan (US$240 million) was levied in fines, of which about half was returned to customers while the rest was turned over to the national coffers.
About 153 million yuan (US$18.1 million) was refunded to rural residents as a result of action taken over electricity charges.
A public hotline to help the people discuss concerns and resolve pricing problems became a medium for the government to learn about common concerns, said Wang.
At the same time, public listing of prices and charges has been carried out in more than 91 percent of all rural towns, he added.
(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2003)
