The Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce has now been given official authority to set up a third-party platform to monitor e-commerce transactions across the country, a senior city official announced over the weekend.
Beijing vice mayor Cheng Hong said in a meeting with political advisors that the platform is sanctioned by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and will be online sometime this year, the state-run China Radio International reported on Monday.
He added that the platform aims to do away with the regional and departmental barriers in the supervising e-commerce in the country and streamline growth of online markets.
According to data from the office of the vice mayor, consumer complaints have been on the rise in Beijing, from 28,000 cases in 2013 to 46,000. Most of these complaints are usually due to shoddy contracts, poor aftersales services and subpar quality of the products sold.
China is experiencing rapid growth in e-commerce industry in recent years. In 2014, a total of $2.1 trillion was spent by Chinese consumers in e-commerce transactions alone, according to a report released by the Ministry of Commerce earlier this year.
During the State Council executive meeting held last October, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang encouraged the development of improved e-commerce operations, including faster Internet connection and expanding networks to rural areas of the country.
"Consumption based on the Internet may become the third important growth point that the central government is searching for to boost the economy, after autos and real estate," Zhang Zhanbin, director of the Chinese Academy of Governance Economics Department, said in an interview.