Beijing Legal Assistance Center will offer half a month of free legal service to needy consumers, reported Saturday's Beijing Times, a local Chinese language newspaper.

Beginning on March 15, China's Consumer Rights Day, consumers living in a tight economic situation or suffering health problems caused by their purchases can ask for legal assistance from the center free of charge until the end of the month.

Wang Xuefa, the center's director, said, a team of volunteers consisting of 20 students from Qinghua University and the People's University of China and five lawyers and law experts has been established to offer such service, targeting to senior and minority citizens, the handicapped, the low-income group and migrant workers.

The paper quoted Deputy-Director Zhou Xin of the Beijing Judicial Bureau as saying that needy customers are more apt to suffer from fake and shoddy products.

(Beijing Weekend March 20, 2003)