The public's great expectations about the anti-monopoly law highlights their great concern about the power of monopolies, says a commentary in Workers' Daily. An excerpt follows:

Despite repeated statements from experts drafting the country's anti-monopoly law that the public should not expect too much from the legal text, the draft law has remained in the public eye.

According to a recent survey, 85.9 percent said they are closely watching the anti-monopoly law, while 92.7 percent hope legislators can pass the draft law as soon as possible.

The major reason for such public interest in the anti-monopoly law is that the problems dealt with in the law are closely related to the interests of the public.

For example, the lucrative profits enjoyed by monopoly enterprises and the higher-than-average welfare of their employees have hurt social fairness. Some monopoly companies charge consumers dearly for inferior services, while paying scant regard to public complaints.

It is therefore easy to understand why the public has such great expectations about the law.

The anti-monopoly law is an important legal text to safeguard market competition, maintain market order and give a full play to the market's function in resource allocation. Such a law is of great significance.

It is also encouraging to see that the public expects legislators to solve this problem, which marks a noteworthy improvement in public trust and confidence in the law-making process.

(China Daily June 29, 2006)