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China to Regulate Online Advertising Service
China has selected 27 famous websites in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to conduct testing on registration for online advertising service, according to an official with State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Because of its low cost, speed and far-reach, the online advertising market has attracted a large amount of investments, said Wang Jinjie, vice-director of the Advertisement Supervision Department of the aforementioned ministry.
There were over 15,000 registered websites in China by the end of 1999, but none of them have received official approval before putting up online ads on their site, which frequently resulted in false advertisement and illegal activities, Wang said.
In order to regulate the Internet advertisement market and protect consumers' interest, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has decided to conduct examination of all websites and grant licenses to those qualified. It means that Internet companies must acquire a government license before publishing online advertisements.
Some of China's more well known websites such as Sohu, Netease, and Etang have passed the qualification examination and were granted permission to advertise online.
The license doesnĄ¯t mean these dot.coms enjoy any special privilege. On the contrary, their online advertising service must be in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and ads for certain special products can only appear on the Internet after being examined and approved.
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