In an attempt to step up control over drug exports, China will adopt a system of licenses and registration.

The system was being tried on exports of 10 categories of drugs, Shao Mingli, director of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), told a national food and drug conference on Wednesday.

The new system will cover pharmaceutical agents, materials that are directly used in manufacturing these agents, and ancillary materials qualified for pharmaceutical production.

Manufacturers of listed categories must get an official license and the drugs they make must be registered. Exporters of listed drugs must have official qualifications and written export approval from the authorities.

Shao also said that the government would intensify crackdowns on false and substandard foods.

Also this year, the SFDA would work out an anti-corruption plan that would be in use through 2012, according to Shao.

Shao pledged to seriously inspect and punish job-related bribery, power abuse and negligence, as well as other activities by officials that harmed the public interest.

Last year, Zheng Xiaoyu, Shao's predecessor, got the death penalty on bribery charges. Other SFDA officials were sentenced to jail terms.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2008)