The main body of market operation refers to the economic entity engaged in commodity production, operation and service activities for the purpose of making profits.
Characteristics of market operators
1. Market operation qualification must be obtained.
2. Must engage in commercial activities
3. Profit-making business activities
4. Be able to independently enjoy civil rights and bear civil liabilities.
Classification of market operators
There are many classification standards for market operators. Classification is for management. Market operators can be classified according to economic nature, enterprise organization form and enterprise scale.
1. Classification by economic nature
1 State-owned enterprises (or enterprises owned by the whole people)
)
2. Collective enterprises (or collectively owned enterprises)
3 Private enterprises
Foreign-invested enterprises (including Sino-foreign joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperation and wholly foreign-owned enterprises)
5. Individual industrial and commercial households
2. According to the organizational form of the enterprise.
1 sole proprietorship enterprise. Refers to an enterprise owned by a single investor and managed by the investor. A wholly-owned enterprise is not a legal person.
2 Partnership enterprises. Refers to an enterprise jointly operated by two or more partners. Each partner of a partnership shall bear unlimited liability for the debts of the enterprise with all his personal property. A partnership is not a legal person.
3 companies and enterprises. It is a for-profit legal entity established in accordance with legal procedures and conditions. It has an independent personality. According to the Company Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), companies include limited liability companies, joint stock companies and wholly state-owned companies.
3. According to the enterprise scale
1 large enterprise; 2 medium-sized enterprises;
3 small businesses.
The role of market operators
(A) to create utility and satisfy desires
People's desires are varied, but most of them are for survival, material needs and spiritual needs. The satisfaction of these desires is realized through the production and operation activities of commodity producers and operators, creating various effects of material wealth and services (such as commodity form effect, regional effect, time effect and ownership effect) and providing commodity materials and services.
(2) Adjust supply and demand and stabilize prices.
Because of the market economy activities of commodity producers and operators, they can communicate the economic ties between various units, regions and countries, and promote the smooth flow of commodity materials and services, so they can adjust and balance the relationship between market supply and demand, stabilize prices in different places and in different periods, and thus achieve stable and sustainable development of commodity economy.
(3) Providing employment and generating income.
Based on the fact that in the process of commodity production and management, a lot of manpower, material resources, financial resources and science and technology are needed to complete, especially the first and third items require the input of appropriate talents, thus providing many employment opportunities and creating more wealth and income to improve the living standards of the whole society.
Develop trade and accumulate national financial resources.
Because of the comparative interests in international trade, commodity economic activities cross national boundaries, and international trade is mainly completed by commodity producers and operators. It is the foreign economic and trade activities of commodity producers and operators that enable the country to develop foreign trade and create and accumulate more wealth.
(5) Make good use of resources and improve efficiency.
The basic contradiction of economic problems is that people's desires are endless, while resources (including manpower, natural resources and human processing resources) are limited. However, through the economic behavior of commodity producers and operators pursuing profit maximization, they can often play a better production benefit, allocate and utilize existing resources most reasonably and effectively, and discover and create new resources at the same time, thus solving social and economic contradictions and making consumers and producers gain greater benefits.
Rights and obligations of market operators
Rights of market operators
The concept of 1. right and its realization conditions.
The right in the general legal sense refers to the qualification that the subject of legal relationship is able or unable to carry out a certain behavior, or requires others to carry out or not to carry out a certain behavior accordingly. The rights of market operators refer to the qualifications given to them by law to do or not to do certain economic acts, and accordingly require other market operators to do or not to do certain economic acts. It can be seen that law and rights are inseparable, all rights are endowed by law, and there is no extra-legal right. The reality of rights lies in the provisions of law. As we all know, law is the embodiment of national will. Therefore, the rights of market operators are essentially endowed by the state. Outside the state, rights are not inherent in any market operator. Because the material living conditions of society cannot directly produce rights and obligations, it must realize its rights through certain media and certain forms, and legal norms are the media and forms to realize this requirement.
For the market operators themselves, they may not be able to act or not. Without technology, production cannot be done well. Without funds, there can be no procurement. Similarly, even if the law gives a market operator the right to ask others not to engage in certain economic activities, this right cannot be realized without necessary law enforcement supervision and corresponding administrative and economic penalties. For example, the problem of counterfeiting registered trademarks can only be eliminated by relying on the law enforcement supervision of government agencies. Therefore, if the law stipulates that market operators enjoy rights, it is necessary to examine whether they have the conditions and possibilities to realize such rights. This possibility is also called the legal right element, which mainly includes:
(1) As the owner of rights, market operators should have the possibility to complete certain behaviors within certain limits, such as having certain people, money, materials, technology and venues as guarantees;
(2) the possibility of asking others to act or not to act to ensure the realization of their rights, such as whether the market operator has fulfilled the legal procedures for safeguarding rights, such as contract notarization, patent application, trademark registration, etc. ;
(3) When the rights of market operators cannot be realized, they can request the relevant state administrative organs to ensure the realization of legitimate rights and interests by force, and compensate the infringed rights and interests, provided that the market operators themselves abide by the law and operate legally.
2. The objective economic basis for market operators to have rights.
The objective economic basis that market operators must enjoy certain rights is market economy. Under the condition of market economy, in order to exchange goods, market operators always have economic relations with the outside world in one way or another in their production and business activities. In order to ensure their normal production and business activities and the stability of the whole economic relationship, it is objectively required to give them certain rights. Without these rights, they can't exchange goods with other economic entities for certain economic behaviors, and they can't ask other economic entities (mainly other market operators) not to do certain economic behaviors accordingly, thus ensuring the realization of their rights. In the case that the rights are not guaranteed, on the one hand, the essential attributes of market operators have changed, and their qualifications for commodity exchange relations no longer exist, so they cannot be said to be real market operators.
For example, under China's traditional planned economy system, not recognizing China's economy as a market economy and not giving enterprises (especially state-owned enterprises) independent rights in production and operation is equivalent to essentially denying the existence of state-owned enterprises as the main body of market operation. On the other hand, it is impossible to protect the legitimate rights and interests of market operators, which makes the market economic order chaotic. For example, if an enterprise has no exclusive right to use a trademark, its trademark rights and interests cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, the nature of market economy determines that market operators must enjoy certain rights.
3. Registration is the premise for market operators to enjoy rights.
In the market economy society, the law gives market operators many due rights, and it is the existence of these rights that enables market operators to carry out various economic activities. However, these rights of market operators must first be approved and registered by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce at all levels before they can obtain the qualification to enjoy the right to operate production. The main reasons are:
(1) Rights and laws are closely linked, and enjoying rights is a qualification recognized by law. Market operators have obtained the qualification of production and operation given by law by registering in the administrative organs authorized by the state (mainly the administrative organs for industry and commerce), that is, they have obtained the legal status as market operators and the license to engage in certain production and operation activities. Business registration has such a nature.
(2) Different market operators have different production and management rights, which must be clearly defined through registration. Due to the different organizational forms and positions of market subjects in the national economy, different market subjects should enjoy different production and management rights. For example, China gives preferential policies to Sino-foreign joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned enterprises, which means that these enterprises enjoy more rights than state-owned enterprises and collective enterprises in the same region. Therefore, by making clear the ownership nature and organizational form of market operators through registration, we can decide what production and operation rights they should and can enjoy.
(3) Through registration, examine the legal rights elements of market operators to determine whether they have the possibility to realize their rights. In the process of registration, we should examine whether the market business entity as the right holder has the possibility to complete some production and business activities within a certain limit, and only with this possibility can we give it corresponding rights. For example, it is necessary to examine whether an enterprise has property suitable for the scale of production and operation. If an enterprise has no or only a small amount of property and conducts large-scale business activities, it will only acquire the other party's property in exchange activities and cannot transfer its own property, or it will only acquire the other party's property and cannot bear the property responsibilities it must bear. Obviously, this is contrary to the principle of equivalent exchange of commodity economy. By examining the legal rights of market operators, we can ensure the possibility of realizing their rights, make rights and responsibilities equal, and maintain the normal operation of market economy.
(4) Through registration, it is clear about the scope of property that market operators enjoy rights and undertake obligations. For example, in China, limited liability companies and joint stock limited companies bear limited liability for corporate debts with their company assets, while investors of sole proprietorship enterprises bear unlimited liability for corporate debts with all the property of individuals and families.
(5) In the process of registration, there are certain qualifications and rights are granted and restricted. As the qualification as the subject of production and business operation rights, including granting exclusive rights such as manufacturer's name and product name, no other manufacturer or individual may carry out production and business operation activities under an assumed name; Another example is the identification and restriction of the business scope of enterprise legal person. While the business scope of an enterprise as a legal person is recognized by the registration authority, it actually stipulates the boundaries of its rights and capabilities, and its business scope shall not be changed at will. At present, China's industrial and commercial administrative departments have two different ways to register market operators, which can be divided into enterprise legal person registration and industrial and commercial registration according to the characteristics of registered objects. Give different market operators corresponding rights and behaviors respectively. The administrative department for industry and commerce is not only related to the rights of market operators in registration, but also closely related in many other aspects. For example, the right to exclusive use of trademarks, the right to name enterprises, the right to require other parties to perform economic contracts, the right to require others not to engage in unfair competition, and the right to corporate goodwill are all realized under the authorization and protection of relevant departments such as the administrative department for industry and commerce. Without the supervision and management of the administrative department for industry and commerce, it is difficult to realize the legitimate rights and interests of market operators.
(two) the obligations that market operators should perform.
1. Concept of obligation and elements of legal obligation. In the general legal sense, obligation refers to the responsibility that the subject of legal relationship must or must not carry out some behavior according to the law. The obligation of market operators refers to the responsibility that the law requires them to do or not to do some kind of economic behavior, and to other market operators to do or not to do some kind of economic behavior. For example, enterprises must abide by financial discipline and pay taxes to the state according to law, which means that enterprises must make certain behaviors; However, enterprises are not allowed to practise fraud and cheat the country when reporting various statistical, accounting and financial statements, that is to say, enterprises are not allowed to do certain acts. Like rights, obligations and laws are inseparable. In the process of production and operation, market operators who fail to fulfill their obligations will bear all legal responsibilities arising therefrom and must be punished by relevant laws. But as far as the obligation itself is concerned, it should also include the meaning of social responsibility and social morality. Just as rights have legal elements of rights, the obligations undertaken by market operators also have legal elements of obligations. The elements of legal obligations refer to the possibility of market operators to fulfill their due obligations, which mainly include:
(1) Some actions must be completed or prohibited within certain restrictions. For example, any market operator must pay taxes and other fees payable in time in accordance with state regulations; For another example, unqualified products produced by enterprises shall not be shipped or sold as qualified products.
(2) The actions or omissions of market operators are manifested through laws, regulations and policies. Tax behavior is clearly stipulated in the tax law; The "Quality Law" clearly stipulates the behavior of ensuring product quality. Just as rights are endowed by law, obligations are clearly defined by laws, regulations and policies.
(3) Market operators should bear legal responsibility for evading the obligations stipulated by law, which is the essence of some obligations that market operators must bear. For example, if an enterprise causes environmental pollution, it will be investigated and dealt with by the relevant laws of environmental protection, and the competent administrative department of environmental protection will handle it according to law; Another example is that if an enterprise fails to perform its obligations under an economic contract, the other party to the contract has the right to request an arbitration institution or a legal department to investigate its due responsibilities, and if economic losses are caused, it shall compensate for the economic losses caused.
2. Obligations that market operators must perform. There are many legal obligations that market operators should perform, which mainly include: registering according to law, paying taxes according to law, operating legally, implementing national economic policies, protecting consumers' rights and interests, protecting the environment, accepting the supervision and management of government agencies, and so on. What needs to be emphasized here is the social responsibility of market operators, which has a broader and deeper connotation than legal obligations. For example, it is not only a prerequisite for the normal production and operation activities of market operators, but also their main social responsibility to provide inexpensive goods and meet the people's growing material and cultural needs. The legal obligations and social responsibilities of market operators are closely related to the administrative department for industry and commerce. As a national administrative law enforcement organ, its main responsibility is to supervise market operators to perform their legitimate production and business obligations according to law, impose administrative penalties on those who fail to perform their obligations and the parties concerned according to law, and force them to perform their obligations by means of administrative law enforcement.
(3) Relationship between rights and obligations The rights and obligations of market operators are not only closely related to laws and social ethics, but also interdependent and mutually reinforcing.
First, the rights and obligations of market operators are interdependent. Without rights, there is no obligation, and without rights, there is no obligation. On the one hand, the content of rights is always expressed through corresponding obligations. For example, market operators have the right to transfer technology, but they must bear the obligation to hand over the technology to the transferee for him to master. The content of technology transfer right is to undertake certain obligations; For another example, market operators have the right to carry out economic activities within the prescribed scope of production and operation, but they must also undertake the obligation to carry out economic activities within the prescribed scope of production and operation. On the other hand, the content of obligations is always determined by the content of rights. For example, in the process of performing an economic contract, one party's obligation to pay for the goods is determined by his right to obtain the goods of the other party. Therefore, the rights and obligations of market operators should be equal. Enjoying rights is the premise and necessary condition for him to undertake obligations; Undertaking obligations is the guarantee of his rights and the obligation he must fulfill.
Second, the rights and obligations of market operators complement each other. Only by earnestly fulfilling their obligations and providing more and better material wealth to the society can we more reliably guarantee their rights and create conditions for expanding their rights. For example, if market operators create more material wealth for the society, provide more and more satisfactory goods and services for consumers, and thus obtain better economic benefits for themselves, then they have more rights to use part of their profits for the improvement of employees' wages and benefits, and also have the ability to further explore the market, expand their production and operation scale and fields, and gain greater rights. The broader and more secure the rights enjoyed by market operators, the more they can enhance their vitality and then urge them to fulfill their due obligations more consciously.
If you have any other legal questions, please consult the relevant lawyers.