roducing branch, subbranch, or group of enterprises
and the specific features of each product and service.

The law makes provision for fixed and ceiling prices. Both types of
prices may be either uniform or differentiated. Uniform prices will
apply throughout the entire country and will be applicable to the main
products and to services of major importance to the economy and the
standard of living. Differentiated prices for a product may be set at
various levels depending upon territorial or seasonal factors and the
nature of the producers or buyers. These provisions will also apply to
agricultural procurement prices.

As in the past, uniform wholesale prices will be based on pre-calculated
average costs for each product at branch level. For the first time,
however, cost will also include taxes on capital and land (interest and
rent) and expenditures for the introduction of new technology. An
important change will also be made in determining the profit element of
the wholesale price. In the future the planned profit level for
enterprises, differentiated by branch and subbranch, will be calculated
in relation to the fixed and circulating capital employed rather than in
relation to cost.

The new law also contains provisions for pricing imports and exports and
for establishing retail prices of consumer goods. Retail prices will
include a profit for the trade organization and a variable turnover tax
applied to the wholesale price. The tax is to be relatively low on goods
produced for children and high on those manufactured in small quantities
and on luxury products. Changes in retail prices may be made only in
the light of planned provisions for the real income of the population.

Authority to set prices and control over the implementation of price
policy will be shifted from the Council of Ministers to the Council of
State and the Grand National Assembly. The Council of State will make
decisions not only concerning general price levels and price changes but
also about specific prices for products and services of particular
importance to the economy and the standard of living and on prices of
products earmarked exclusively for the defense sector. In an effort to
ensure a uniform price policy under a decentralized process of price
fixing, the law spells out the responsibilities of all entities
concerned with pricing, from the Council of State down to the individual
enterprise. Jurisdiction over prices for products and s