Chinese consumers will receive more legal and financial help from government departments and consumer associations to safeguard their rights, it was announced yesterday, the 18th World Consumer Rights Day.

A national consumer complaint hotline, 12315, was inaugurated by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce in collaboration with telecommunication authorities. It will provide prompt legal advice and aid to disgruntled consumers, sources from the administration said.

The hotline was created to allow consumers more options in filing complaints and seeking protection, a role so far q restricted to consumer associations.

Since the hotline started an experimental programme last year, the administration cracked 170,000 cases involving fake and shoddy goods, up more than 58 per cent over the previous year.

It also handled a total of 270,000 consumer complaints in 1999 and helped retrieve a record 2.1 billion yuan (US$253 million) in economic losses for consumers, statistics showed.

One feature of the newly established programme is that consumers can contact any of the 299 State-designated product testing centres for appraisals at a reasonable price, administration sources said.

They can also access free and prompt legal assistance from experts at the China Consumers' Association (CCA), said Cao Tiandian, CCA president. At present, more than 10,000 experts work as volunteers for CCA.

Cao also introduced the association's newly-established fund to support consumers who take their cases against poor-quality health-care merchandise and services to court.

The 800,000-yuan (US$96,386) fund will be used to hire lawyers, prepare documents and conduct investigations.

To commemorate Consumer Rights Day, a special evening party was broadcast last night by the China Central Television (CCTV), in collaboration with the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Justice and other State departments.

But it was not an ordinary party - the programme centred around such topics as safety in public buildings and consumers' rights in the supermarket.

Staggering figures of life and property losses caused by poor quality products were revealed, and names of fake products were broadcast.

The evening party was also put on line for web surfers in China and around the world.(China Daily)