A nationwide 100-day inspection of product quality begins Tuesday. According to the State Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine, the inspection aims at ensuring a "safe market" for consumers in the coming New Year's Day and the Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year).
The administration, the country's top quality and quarantine watchdog, revealed the three-month campaign will crack down on inferior food products, counterfeit daily commodities, low-quality holiday presents and tourist products.
Wu Qinghai, vice-director of the administration and official in charge of the inspection, said termination of the sources of the fake and inferior products was also a top priority.
Local quality supervision authorities prepared for the campaign earlier this month by investigating the whereabouts of the counterfeit sources, according to the administration.
Handsome rewards are to be paid to those who report those dealing in fake products, stated a recent notice by the administration and the Ministry of Finance.
Wu also stressed cross-department co-ordination, calling on governmental departments concerned with commerce, agriculture, health, finance and law enforcement to join forces with the administration in the campaign.
The inspection also targets exported products, as well as imported products, according to the administration.
Ensuring the good name of the signature mark "Made in China" is a major concern as the country goes global, said Liu Zhaobin, an administration official responsible for drafting and explaining the regulations.
Liu further noted the country's economy, though boosted by the China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), may not be as rosy in the near future due to the global economic downturn.
Since June, the country's exports have witnessed a continued slowdown, though the total export volume of the year is expected to visibly increase, official statistics indicated.
The country foresees an even more severe export perspective next year, Liu said.
Under such circumstances, the fight against counterfeit products helps boost consumers' confidence in the market and ensure the healthy development of "holiday economy," which has become one of the key momentums of the country's economy during the past few years.
During the past six months, quality supervision authorities across the country have smashed more than 10,000 manufacturing bases of counterfeit products. Fake goods confiscated to date value at more than 2 billion yuan (US$240 million).
(China Daily November 20, 2001)
