The bureaucratic red-tape when overseas firms seek to register themselves must be cut, State Councilor Wu Yi said yesterday.

Wu urged industry and commerce authorities to make the necessary reforms of the registration system for foreign-funded enterprises in line with the WTO rules.

China's entry into WTO is expected by the end of this year and the readjustment of regulations that are not in track with WTO rules must be hastened, Wu said.

She made the remark at a symposium attended by department directors of the administration and heads of provincial-level industry and commerce authorities across the country.

The event in Beijing is the first major gathering since the former vice-ministerial level administration was promoted to ministerial level.

The basic principles of WTO, such as market access, the protection of intellectual property rights and fair play, all have close relationships with the functions of industry and commerce authorities, Wu said.

Her views were echoed by Wang Zhongfu, minister of the State General Administration for Industry and Commerce. His administration is revising rules, policies and regulations that are not in line with the spirit of WTO, he said.

The industry and commerce watchdog is also having a hand in drafting anti-monopoly and anti-dumping laws, he said.

With such laws drafted, a market supervision law system is expected to take shape.

The nation is currently engaging in a large-scale rectification of market disorder. The aim is to get rid of chaos in the market. An important part of the purge is a crackdown on counterfeit and shoddy commodities.

The promotion of the top industry and commerce administration, which increases its power, is viewed as an important step to this end.

In the first part of the year, industry and commerce authorities across the country have achieved marked results in improving the "economic environment".

A total of 103,300 enterprises, including 6,198 foreign-funded businesses, lost their business licenses as a penalty for illegal conduct.

More than 66,000 cases involving the production and sale of fake goods, and more than 16,000 cases involving the violation of consumer rights had been put on file for investigation, administration sources said.

(China Daily August 8, 2001)