Eleven Chinese government departments have teamed up to crack down on fraudulent advertisements to protect the rights and interests of consumers.

Great efforts will be made to supervise various advertisements and serious offenders will be prosecuted, according to a meeting attended Tuesday by 11 government departments including the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Information Industry, Ministry of Health and State Food and Drug Administration, among others.

According to the meeting, the crackdown will mainly targets ads for medicines, medical services, foodstuff, cosmetics and beauty services

Chinese industrial and commercial authorities handled 61,800 illegal advertisements last year, including 16,600 fraudulent ones, which provide false information on related products or exaggerate their quality and functions.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)