Beijing will launch a citywide campaign to fight piracy and copyright infringement so as to ensure a healthy environment for the upcoming 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, a Beijing official said on March 19.

Led by the Cultural Law Enforcement Agency (CLEA), the campaign "will involve a thorough inspection of publications sold in bookstores, music stores and wholesale markets, as well as a crackdown on street peddlers selling illegal or pirated products," said Zhao Anliang, head of the CLEA, at the mobilization meeting on March 19.

According to Zhao, pirated audio and video publications and pirated products associated with the Shanghai World Expo will be the main focus of the campaign.

Zhao said the new initiative to combat piracy would be divided into four phases and last until the end of October. The city will collaborate with Shanghai and provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guangdong.

According to Zhou Huilin, vice-director of the State Eliminating Pornography and Other Illegal Publications Office, the annual national sales of CDs products were just 200 million yuan, as most of the market had been taken over by pirated CDs. He said the regulatory bodies need to be on high alert.

Zhou also pointed out that it was not just street peddlers that sold pirated audio and video products as some licensed stores sold similar material. He said some publishing houses also produced pirated CDs and DVDs. Tian Suxue, from the Beijing Retail Association of Audio and Video Products, called for the industry to be self-disciplined.