A Study Of Legal Issues In The Regulation Of Public Utilities Franchise

"Public utilities franchise"is the right of an enterprise granted by the government to conduct franchise operation in acertain product or service of municipal public utilities within a certain period of time and scope. The development of public utility franchise system has afar-reaching significance for China to solve problems in public utilities, such as lack of funds, industry monopoly, low operation efficiency, etc. and to promote the development of socialist market economy. Meanwhile, public utilities have its own special characteristics; it is closely related to people's fundamental interests, and the market self-regulation system is not so mature. So, strict supervision on franchisees is very important.There is already a great development in the system of public utilities franchise in China. However, a corresponding effective regulatory system has not been established. There are a lot of problems. For example, there is not a uniform standard for regulatory laws, the level of regulatory laws is relatively low, the regulatory laws are not so practical, the whole legal system of regulation is in confusion, the responsibility of regulatory body is unclear, the regulatory role is in disorder, the pricing method is not advanced, the price hearing system is imperfect, the social supervision is inadequate, etc. All these problems are beginning to influence the development of our public utilities franchise system.To establish a sound legal regulatory system of public utilities franchise, regulatory laws, regulatory body, pricing mechanisms, social supervision, and other factors should all be taken into consideration. This paper first describes the basic situation of the development of public utilities franchise in China, and then, analyzes the problems in the regulation of public utilities franchise in China and sees the advanced foreign experience in public utility regulation. Taking this as a basis, this paper, concerning the actual situation of the country, finally proposes relevant legal advices for the development of the regulatory system of public utilities franchise suitable for China.