According to a recent meeting held in Beijing, both central and provincial governmental agencies across China completed the target of using legalized software. By this April, 62.15% of municipal governments and 32.85% of official authorities at county level have reached the target. A total of 3.232 million sets of operating system, office or antivirus software have been purchased by central and local governments, and the value of the procurement comes to 2.165 billion Renminbi yuan.
In order to check local use of legalized software, an inspection working group was formulated by officials from eight central authorities including the Ministry of Finance, National Copyright Administration and the State Intellectual Property Office. 16 provinces, municipalities and 14 central governmental departments were checked including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Education.
The inspection saw great improvements on software assets management on the whole though more needs to be done. It is said that check on use of legalized software will be finished for all local government at the county level in China.
The Chinese government pays great attention to the use of authorized software. In October 2001, the State Council promulgated a Notice to urge central governmental departments to eliminate the use of pirated software. Similar notices were delivered to authorities at provincial and municipal level in May 2004. Efforts are being made to develop a long-term mechanism to combat piracy and promote the use of legalized software.
