China has set up a national system for protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) with the establishment of a comprehensive IPR service center on Monday in Yiwu City in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang.

The center is the last of 50 IPR service centers that have been set up in 31 provinces and cities in partnership with foreign-funded enterprises. The centers are responsible for receiving and handling complaints about IPR infringements and offering consulting services.

The founding of the system aims to strengthen China's efforts in protecting IPR and crack down on copyright violations, said Yao Guanghai, deputy secretary-general of the National Office of Intellectual Property Rights Protection.

Anyone who requires professional IPR serves can call the hotline 12312.

Yiwu in central Zhejiang is well known as a daily commodities wholesale market, with an annual business volume of nearly 30 billion yuan (US$3.75 billion). It is also a target of campaigns to clamp down on fake and pirated goods.

In the first half of the year, the authorities made 1,076 IPR infringement related prosecutions, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In an effort to show its resolve of cracking down on piracy, the State Council, China's highest governing body, said that it would punish officials who fail to enforce IPR protection.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2006)