The Government Offices Administration of the State Council has established a website for purchasing genuine software in an effort to crack down on pirated software used by government departments.

The government wants to create a long-term mechanism for the procurement, use and management of legitimate software, according to Chen Jianming, director of the Central Procurement Center under the administration.

So far, local governments in Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Shanxi, as well as 53 software manufacturers and suppliers, have signed agreements concerning the procurement of legitimate software with the Central Procurement Center.

China has stepped up its battle against software piracy in government and business circles over the past few years. Between 2007 and 2009, the country spent 74.8 billion yuan (11.5 billion U.S. dollars) and 794 million yuan on buying legitimate software for state-owned companies and central government departments, respectively.