Liaoning Province in northeastern China will amend its regulation on fossil protection to strengthen crackdown on rampant excavation and smuggling, according to local authorities.

Liaoning abounds in paleontology fossils, especially in its western area. More and more fossil smuggling cases in recent years have led to fossils being damaged or shipped overseas.

The province's regulations on fossil preservation, issued on March 1, 2001, have played an important role in protecting the valuable resources, but still could not deal with some kinds of fossil smuggling because of the law's narrow scope.

According to the provincial department in charge of land and resources, the modified regulation will put an additional 15 kinds of fossils under protection, including naturally well-preserved fossils of vertebrate paleontology and others that are valuable to classification and the study of evolution.

The new regulation will also define such activities as unlawfully trading collected fossils, not fully putting uncovered fossils on records or taking pictures without authorization. Infractions will be punished by the departments in charge of land and resources at or above county levels.

Meanwhile, plans to uncover fossil resources in province-protected areas or to excavate in areas under special protection must be reported to the provincial department for approval.