An office for the reporting of economic crimes, affiliated to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Public Security, was established on Wednesday.

It was also announced that any individual or government work unit can report activities involving bribery and intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements to the office on 10-83547515. Telephone lines are open around the clock.

This is one of the major steps this year that Beijing is taking to crack down on cases of bribery in commercial circles and IPR infringement, said an official with the municipal bureau of public security.

The official said that the bureau's focus is on bribery cases in 11 sectors including construction, land sales, trade of property ownership, purchasing and marketing of medicines, governmental procurement, exploitation and marketing of resources, publishing, bank loans, securities, insurance and telecommunications services.

At the same time, Beijing will strike hard on activities involving producing, transporting and selling fake products and trademarks, as well as activities involving the violation of online property, buying and selling pirated discs and illegal publications.

The bureau will work in cooperation with local procuratorates, the courts, industry and commerce watchdogs, quality supervision departments and the IPR office.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2006)