One of China's principal regulatory bodies yesterday declared a full assault on business bribery which is threatening to do great harm to fair market practices.

 

Zhong Youping, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, vowed that his administration would redouble efforts to eliminate commercial bribery.

 

Addressing a national conference, Zhong blamed the soaring medicine and drug prices seen in recent years for the rapid increase of public complaints. Statistics have revealed that the medical, agricultural and publishing sectors have become riddled with bribery, he added.

 

Last year, industry and commerce authorities at various levels investigated 9,086 (up 277% on 2005) cases of business bribery involving 1.936 billion yuan (up 111%). These led to 48 cases being referred to the judiciary, up from only one in 2005.

 

Progress was also made in bribery relating to medicine purchases and sales with 1,993 cases being cracked, involving 499 million yuan.

 

Zhong had harsh words for local authorities who shied away from major crackdowns and from enforcing the law.

 

"Business bribery in some industries has created a set of hidden rules which many local industry and commerce bureaus have failed to discover," Zhong said.

 

Zhong said the relevant authorities should better regulate and oversee the agricultural materials trade, especially chemical fertilizer, pesticide and seeds in order to avoid harming farmers' interests.

 

Turning to his administration's other priorities, Zhong revealed he wants to see further progress made in combating unfair competition, such as business swindling, smuggling and illegal assembling of automobiles.

 

Smuggling cases kept Zhong's staff busy last year as they uncovered 2,638 cases of smuggling valued at 355 million yuan in total.

 

Unfair competition also captured the attention of investigators.

 

In 2006, the administration solved 42,500 cases of unfair competition involving 3.18 billion yuan, while 12,384 cases of intellectual rights violation involving 206 million yuan were also brought to a close.

 

Zhong said the administration will soon launch a campaign against trademark counterfeiting.

 

(China Daily April 10, 2007)