China's first on-line trading regulatory measures have been launched in Beijing.

On-line traders are required to signing with the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce and can do so on line.

With the unprecedented development of on-line businesses, reports of illegal activities and cheating have also surged, making protecting consumer rights an urgent task for the country's industrial and commerce administrators.

Statistics from the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce indicate there are two new dotcom companies entering the market daily.

"But despite the rapid development, there have been no proper measures or government offices to regulate and manage on-line trading," said Wang Jiping, director of the administration.

As the city with the most dotcom companies in the country, Beijing is leading the way by issuing record-making measures for on-line trading firms.

Under the new measures, every business entity that has a proper licence and a business range related to the Internet should record their activity at the administration's website at http://www.hd315.com.

Any licensed business entities engaged in the following kinds of business activities should sign in:

Contract signing and trading via Internet;

Advertisement via the Internet;

Corporate image designing and promoting via the Internet;

Internet access providers and those providing network technique support;

For-profit e-commerce.

A firm should provide the administration with its company name, licence number, IP address, registered capital, business range, server name and e-mail address.

The administration will assign a special logo to the qualified firm after it examines and verifies the information provided, usually within 48 hours. The logo will appear on the homepage of a firm's website.

Every qualified on-line trading company is required to use the logo on its home page so consumers and other companies can decide whether to do business with the company.

The record-making procedure complies with the country's Advertisement Law, Consumer Protection Law and Law Against Unfair Competition under which the administration is acting to protect consumer rights and to ensure equal competition, said Wang.

"In designing the logo, we met many problems," said a senior official who is in charge of the registration.