Legal liabilities of business operators

(I) Legal liabilities of business operators
(1) Civil liability: The illegal pricing acts of business operators damage not only the social and economic management order but also the interests of other business operators and consumers. Illegal pricing acts constitute tort in civil law, and civil liability should be imposed on the tortfeasors. Article 41 of the Pricing Law states, "Where a business operator causes a consumer or any other business operator to overpay due to its illegal pricing acts, the overpayment shall be refunded, and it shall be liable for compensation in accordance with the law in case of any damage therefrom.”
(2) Administrative liability for: ① Failing to implement government referential pricing, government pricing, legal price intervention measures, or emergency measures; ② Unfair pricing acts; ③ Violating the regulations on explicit pricing; ④ Failing to suspend relevant business operations after being so ordered, or transferring, concealing, or destroying any property registered and preserved in accordance with the law; or ⑤ Refusing to provide information required for supervision and inspection in accordance with the law or providing false information. Depending on the severity of the violations, such penalties as ordering for corrections, confiscation of illegal gains, fines, ordering for suspension of business for rectification, and even revocation of business license by the industrial and commercial authority shall be imposed.
(II) Other liabilities
(1) Where a government or government authority sets or adjusts prices in violation of the Pricing Law or beyond their pricing powers and functions and scope without authorization, or fails to implement any statutory price intervention measure or emergency measure, they shall be ordered to make corrections and may be criticized in a public notice, and administrative penalties shall be imposed on their chiefs and other responsible persons in accordance with the law.
(2) Where any member of a pricing staff discloses State secrets or trade secrets, abuses their powers, engages in malpractices for personal gain, neglects their duties, or solicits or accepts bribes, criminal proceedings shall be instituted in accordance with the law if such violation constitutes a crime, and disciplinary penalties shall be imposed in accordance with the law if such violation does not constitute a crime.