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People illegally digging for animal or plant fossils, or those trying to sell them, can now expect to cop a 30,000 yuan (US$3,623) fine or be dealt with under China's criminal code.

The Ministry of Land and Resources yesterday published China's first set of detailed regulations to protect fossils, in a bid to curb the mining of the country's geological heritage.

Under the regulations, an expert who has been authorized by the ministry has to evaluate fossils before they can be removed from China for teaching or research purposes.

"Of the countries boasting rich reserves of fossils of ancient animals and plants, China probably is the one suffering the most severe drain of the resource," said Dong Zhiming, a leading palaeontologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"But the new set of measures gives some hope to stop the drain."

According to Dong, many fossil sites have been destroyed by illegal mining, which erodes traces of important background information relating to the age of the artifacts and the geological conditions during their formation.

"Without necessary background information, the fossils lose most of their value," Dong said.

Any fossils not destroyed during rampant illegal mining are often smuggled out of the country. All three dinosaur eggs with an emerging embryo, that have so far been found in China have been smuggled out of the country. Several thousand dinosaur eggs have been smuggled out of China.

Dong said the situation was allowed to exist as the central government gave little attention to the protection of fossils, only stating in one clause of the Cultural Relics Protection Law that "those of value" should be guarded.

Zhang Shulong, an official with the General Administration of Customs, said the administration is co-operating with the ministry to produce a detailed catalogue of protected fossils.

(China Daily August 28, 2002)