On April 19, 2022, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau reported a case of illegal business of driving up prices: after investigation, since April 10, the suspect Gao has illegally rented others' food business license to open a shop on the network platform, stockpiled a large number of vegetables, eggs, chickens, ducks and other food, and significantly raised the price for external sales, with a cumulative sales of more than 1.75 million yuan and an illegal profit of more than 1.5 million yuan. At present, suspect Gao has been taken criminal coercive measures by Jing'an police according to law due to his suspicion of illegal business operation, and the case is under further investigation.

In fact, since the epidemic control measures were taken, the incidents of driving up prices have been common. Only the police have reported a number of well-known cases, such as suspect You, who used his position in the supermarket to hoard commodities to drive up prices, suspect Zhao, who used his identity as a delivery rider to raise the cost of running errands, and malicious price increases at the scene. According to data provided by the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, since March 14, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau has investigated and handled more than 200 cases of price violations. In just one month, the number of cases is staggering!

As the footnote to "Capital" states, "Once there is an appropriate profit, capital is bold. If there is 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is 20% profit, it becomes active; if there is 50% profit, it takes risks; for 100% profit, it dares to trample all human laws; if there is 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even risks hanging its head."

However, trampling on the law is bound to be severely punished by the law!

1、 The act of driving up prices constitutes an administrative violation and will be subject to severe administrative penalties

According to Article 14 of the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China", "Business operators shall not engage in the following unfair pricing behaviors:... (3) fabricating or disseminating information about price increases, driving up prices, and promoting excessive increases in commodity prices;..." In addition, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau Article 1 of the "Guiding Opinions on Identifying Illegal Price Raising Behaviors during the Period of Epidemic Prevention and Control" issued by the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission stipulates: "An operator who commits one of the following circumstances constitutes a price raising behavior as stipulated in Article 14 of the Price Law of the People's Republic of China: (1) fabricating or disseminating price increasing information to significantly increase prices; and (2) "There has been no significant change in production costs or purchase costs, and prices have been significantly increased for the purpose of profiteering;"; （3） Taking the lead in raising prices significantly in some regions or industries; （4） Hoarding and hoarding, resulting in a significant increase in the price of goods due to a shortage of supply; （5） "Using other means to bid up prices and drive commodity prices up too fast or too high."

According to Article 6 of the Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Price Violations: "If a business operator violates the provisions of Article 14 of the Price Law and commits one of the following acts that promote the price of a commodity to rise too fast or too high, it shall be ordered to rectify, its illegal income shall be confiscated, and a fine of not more than five times the illegal income shall be imposed. If there are no illegal income, a fine of not less than 50000 yuan but not more than 500000 yuan shall be imposed, and if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 500000 yuan but not more than 3 million yuan shall be imposed. If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification, or the administrative department for industry and commerce shall revoke Business license: (1) fabricating or disseminating information on price increases to disrupt the market price order; （2） "Except for production and self use, overstocking the normal storage quantity or storage cycle, hoarding a large number of commodities with tight market supply and abnormal price fluctuations, and continuing to hoard after being warned by the competent pricing department;"; （3） "Using other means to bid up prices and drive commodity prices up too fast or too high."

It can be seen that the act of driving up prices first constitutes an administrative violation. If the epidemic is used to drive up prices, a high fine will be imposed, and even the business license will be revoked.

2、 Under the epidemic, severely crack down on the behavior of driving up prices, or be convicted and sentenced for the crime of illegal business operation

What is the crime of illegal business operation?

According to Article 225 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, "Whoever, in violation of State regulations, commits one of the following illegal business operations, disrupting market order, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall also, or shall only, be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the illegal income; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years, and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the illegal income, or be sentenced to confiscation of property:" （1） Engaging in the operation of monopolized or monopolized goods or other restricted goods stipulated by laws and administrative regulations without permission; （2） Buying or selling import and export licenses, certificates of origin for import and export, and other business licenses or approval documents required by laws and administrative regulations; （3） Illegally engaging in securities, futures, or insurance businesses, or illegally engaging in fund payment and settlement businesses without the approval of the relevant competent department of the state; （4） "Other illegal business operations that seriously disrupt market order."

Based on the above provisions, it can be seen that the behavior of driving up prices is not a typical application of the crime of illegal business operations, so why can the crime of illegal business operations be convicted and sentenced?

From the police briefing on April 19, 2022, it can be seen that from April 10 to April 19, in less than ten days, Gao obtained a windfall profit of over 1.5 million yuan through price hikes. In the face of extreme scarcity of distribution resources throughout the city, and the inability of a large number of people to meet their needs for life and medical supplies, many lawbreakers such as Mr. Gao have used their resources to hoard and increase their profits. Taking advantage of the people's eagerness to save themselves in difficult situations, the Tang and Huang places have put on the guise of "saviors", repeatedly breaking through the price floor acceptable to the public, Making flagrant profits and raising prices seem to have become their "dictatorship" to rationalize in the epidemic. Administrative measures alone are no longer sufficient to play a deterrent role. As the "last resort" of social management, criminal law is duty-bound to crack down on such bad practices.

According to the Supreme People's Court Article 6 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Certain Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases that Obstruct the Prevention and Control of Sudden Epidemic Diseases and Other Disasters stipulates that: "Whoever, in violation of the relevant market operation and price management regulations of the State during the prevention and control of sudden epidemics of infectious diseases and other disasters, drives up prices, seeks exorbitant profits, seriously disrupting market order, and has a relatively large amount of illegal gains, or has other serious circumstances, shall be convicted of the crime of illegal business operations in accordance with the provisions of Article 205 (4) of the Criminal Law, and shall be given a heavier punishment according to law."

And the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security The Opinions of the Ministry of Justice on Punishing the Prevention and Control of Illegal Crimes that Obstruct the Pneumonia Epidemic Caused by novel coronavirus according to Law stipulates that: "During the period of epidemic prevention and control, anyone who, in violation of the relevant national regulations on market operation and price management, hoards and hoards, drives up the prices of protective equipment such as masks, goggles, protective clothing, disinfectants, or other items that are urgently needed for epidemic prevention and control, seeks exorbitant profits, and has a large amount of illegal gains or other serious circumstances, seriously disrupting market order, shall be punished by illegal trading in accordance with the provisions of Item 4 of Article 225 of the Criminal Law "Conviction and punishment of camp crimes."

It can be seen that all departments have a firm attitude towards the behavior of driving up prices that seriously disrupt the market order. They always take it as a key target to crack down on. They are convicted and punished for the crime of illegal business operations, and have issued guidance on criminal acts since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, so that the action to crack down on such crimes has laws to follow.

3、 A typical case of driving up prices and criminalizing illegal business operations

On March 26, 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced the fourth of the seventh batch of typical cases of the national procuratorial organs handling the crime of obstructing the prevention and control of the COVID-19 according to law: the case of illegal operation of a company in Shanghai, the defendant, Xie.

The defendant, Xie, is the legal representative of a company in Shanghai that operates daily labor protection equipment. In early January 2020, the defendant's unit purchased a batch of ordinary civilian masks at a price of 5.125 yuan (50 per box) per box, with a daily sales price of 7 yuan per box. After the outbreak of the COVID-19, Xie decided to raise the price of these masks for profit, so the price went up continuously from January 23 to 29, from 21 yuan per box to 198 yuan per box. Upon investigation, the company's high-priced sales of masks amounted to more than 170000 yuan, and the amount of illegal income was more than 160000 yuan.

On March 23, 2020, the Shanghai Songjiang District People's Court held a public hearing to hear the case. The court held that the masks involved in the case were purchased by the defendant before the outbreak of the epidemic, and their operating costs did not significantly change after the outbreak of the epidemic, but they were sold at a price increase of dozens of times. This was to bid up prices and seek exorbitant profits, and the amount of illegal income was relatively large. Both the defendant and the defendant constituted a crime of illegal business operations. The defendant was sentenced to a fine of 200000 yuan, and the defendant, Xie, was sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of 8 months and a fine of 180000 yuan, and the illegal income was recovered.

Although this batch of typical cases involve epidemic prevention materials or raw materials, considering that the situation of the epidemic in Wuhan in 2020 is not exactly the same as that of the current epidemic in Shanghai, the general demand of Shanghai people is for food, drugs, and other necessities of life that are directly used to maintain survival. Stockpiling and raising prices on these important materials is tantamount to trapping the people in deep water and suffering, and their nature is even worse. The typical cases of price hikes released by the Supreme Court of Public Security have made the action against such illegal crimes more rule-based.

Admittedly, criminal law is modest, and it is generally inappropriate to intervene too early or excessively in the market to affect the enthusiasm of market participants. However, it must be made clear that in the special period of epidemic prevention and control, illegal crimes such as driving up prices have a more serious social harm, raising prices, disrupting order, and disrupting public sentiment. Therefore, it is reasonable and even necessary to use criminal means to severely crack down on the illegal crime of driving up prices. While procuratorial organs and public security organs at all levels investigate and deal with illegal and criminal acts of driving up prices in accordance with the law, we, the general public, should also enhance their awareness of safeguarding their rights, resolutely resist and actively report the behavior of driving up prices found in daily life. At the same time, in the current situation where the amount of daily supplies and epidemic prevention supplies is gradually increasing in the market, we should try to purchase from formal and reliable channels, so that lawbreakers have no opportunity to take advantage of it. I believe that under the collective planning and control of the whole society, we can certainly smash the "authoritarian dream" of illegal elements to drive up prices and seek exorbitant profits!