A national information security system will be built in five years and the central government will reduce the requirements for market access to information security products, officials said.

A new regulation on information security products manufactured at home and abroad will come out in the near future, further widening market access for software developers, the Ministry of Public Security, China's top information security authority, said Monday.

Gu Jianguo, vice director of the ministry's Public Information Network Security Inspection Bureau, said as information security products are crucial to the protection of a country's security, the central government has to supervise and test the quality of these products.

However, the new regulation will only target products whose major functions are dedicated to protecting information, such as anti-virus products, he said.

Up to now, any software that includes information security as a function would have to undergo testing by the ministry.

Only after the approval could the company sell its product in the country.

Under the new regulation, only products solely used for information security protection would need approval of the ministry and sale permits.

Market analysts believe the change is the direct result of the fast-growing market need for information protection.

Some insiders say the market potential for such products will surpass 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) by the end of this year.

Yan Ming, director of the Third Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security, said during the 5-year period from 1999 to 2003, the number of the products tested and approved by the ministry grew by an average 100 per cent per year.

The officials added that Shanghai as the economic center of the country, is attaching more importance to information security protection and playing an important role in developing information security protection systems for the whole country.

Insiders said two pilot projects for the national protection system have already been completed there.

An exhibition and an executive forum attached will be launched on November 24 at Shanghai International Convention Center.

According to the officials, the exhibition and forum will involve many leading edge companies such as Microsoft China Co. Ltd., Internet Security Systems Co. Ltd. and Symantec.

(China Daily April 6, 2004)