The Legal Regulation Of The Monopoly In Public Utilities

The public utilities, which is characterized as natural monopoly, is the operator of public affairs, including water supply , power supply,. heat supp, gas supply,postal service, telecommunication, transportation and such like that. The operation state, service quality and the price level not only directly affect the public life, but also become the inevitable and significant prerequisite for our contemporary industry development. Concerning the safety and stabilize of national economy, each State handle the problem of public enterprise with great care. Especially in the early times, most market-orient States took strictly government control and enforced particular laws to the public utilities, like applying anti-monopoly law for exemption in some extend. While, with the theory of natural monopoly deepened and the public utilities, reform successfully in the 1980s and 1990s in western developed countries, the legal monopoly status of public utilities is facing challenge both from theoretic and practice. The discussion about whether and how to break monopoly and introduce competition to public utilities and such network industries is a very important and challenging issue, which our country should confront with in the economic system reform at the typical point. For the forgoing analysis, the first part of this thesis expounds the causation about the formation of public utilities monopoly, including the normal reasons and particular reasons in our country. The second part stress on analyzing the necessity of anti-monopoly to public utilities. Firstly, the reasonable of public utilities monopoly is suspected, because of the theory of natural monopoly deepened, the development of capital market and the research in real practice of public utilities reform in every country. Secondly, grave disadvantages caused by public utilities monopoly lead to the claims that breaking the public enterprise monopoly heavier by the all circles of society. Thirdly, after entry into WTO, the inevitable choice to deal with the economic globalization is to speed up the public utilities reform and to promote the international competitiveness. Finally, based on the Chinese situation, we should draw lessons from the usual ways and succeeded experiences of the other countries' public utilities reform. The third part mainly discussed the judicial way to anti-monopoly of public utilities , involving to establish the principles and main content of legislation, and to perfect the relating legal system. This thesis also suggest that it is benefit for the government and enterprise separated, and the competition7system introduced and the proper price regulation enforced under the guidance of loosening rules, effective competition, protection of consumer's interests and the principle of step-by-step. We believe the improvement of anti-monopoly to public utilities can be advanced through making and carrying out the anti-monopoly law, strengthen the industry law; in addition, specialized public utilities law and the corporation law, price law etc the related department law need to be coordinated.