China's record on the sale and production of counterfeit goods is among the worst in the world, a senior US trade official claimed yesterday. On a visit to Beijing, the assistant US Trade Representative, Mr Joseph Papovich, said that while the Chinese were taking the matter seriously, "they have a very long way to go" before honouring piracy commitments under WTO.  Miriam Donohoe reports from Beijing

"Most companies tell me that the counterfeiting and piracy problems they face here are probably more than anywhere else in the world," he told a news conference.

Under the terms of the WTO, which China joined in December, it has agreed to abide by the global trade body's agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. Mr Papovich is in China to discuss enforcement of the pact.

He said yesterday that, since his last visit more than a year ago, China had been "more active" in trying to solve the problem by providing better training for enforcement officials and introducing new guidelines on prosecuting violators.

Piracy remains rampant in China despite a 1995 Sino-US agreement on intellecutal property rights. It is estimated that more than 90 per cent of computer software in China is pirated.

Yesterday in downtown Beijing vendors were openly hawking pirated DVDs with the latest cinema releases for as little as $1. Traders in the famous Silk Alley street market were selling fake brand names including Nike and Ralph Lauren.

Pirated music, movies and software goods are made overseas and smuggled into China, while fake consumer goods are produced domestically and, in some cases, exported. Mr Papovich called on the Chinese authorities to introduce stiffer penalties for violators, saying current sanctions were little more than "a slap on the wrist". "We believe more of these counterfeiting cases, of product counterfeiting and copyright piracy, need to be referred for criminal prosecutions," he said.