The creation of an accountability mechanism in which e-commerce platform operators take responsibility for consumer fraud should be implemented across the e-commerce sector, said Zhang Jindong, chairman of household appliance retailer Suning Commerce Group Co, in a proposal.

Zhang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, will submit the proposal to the country's top political advisory body.

Knockoffs sold online have greatly damaged the trust of consumers, who also face a lot of problems safeguarding their rights, Zhang wrote in the proposal, which was e-mailed to the Global Times on Tuesday.

To crack this problem, his company has kicked off an accountability mechanism which promises the payment of an indemnity to buyers of problematic products and services sold via Suning's online platform.

The online merchants are required to pay a small amount of money to guarantee adherence to the mechanism, a Suning staff member who declined to be named, told the Global Times on Tuesday, without disclosing the exact amounts.

By the third quarter of 2015, roughly 20 percent of all the items sold on Suning's e-commerce conduit will be covered by the mechanism, said the staff member.

In a statement e-mailed to the Global Times Tuesday, Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding also said it had invested more than 1 billion yuan ($159.4 million) from the beginning of 2013 to November 30, 2014 to combat counterfeit products.

Alibaba cooperated with law enforcement in handling over 1,000 cases involving intellectual property right infringement and seizing 400 suspects, involving 600 million yuan, the statement said.

Alibaba recently stepped into the limelight due to a clash with China's commerce regulator over fake products.

On January 28, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) published a strongly worded white paper based on talks with Alibaba in July 2014, claiming Alibaba has failed to eliminate counterfeiting on its consumer-to-consumer marketplace Taobao.  

Taobao replied to the white paper later that day by saying it has decided to file a complaint over a SAIC official's procedural misconduct and "emotional" law enforcement.

The feud seemed to cool off after the SAIC removed the white paper from its website hours later after the posting and on January 30, the SAIC said the paper had no legal force ­after the agency's director Zhang Mao met with Alibaba founder Jack Ma Yun to pledge joint efforts in fake goods crackdowns.

In additional to efforts initiated by e-commerce operators, industry watchers called for ramped-up action by the government in cracking down on fake products sold online.

"Online retailers and platforms are currently subject to the supervision of local regulators and local protectionism leads to ineffective enforcement," Zhang Yi, CEO of Guangzhou-based iiMedia Research, told the Global Times Tuesday. 

"The government should play a major role in combating counterfeiting products sold online and issue unified rules to make sure no one could exploit the loopholes and dodge penalties," Zhang said.

In a sign of already toughened efforts to protect ­consumer rights, the SAIC ­issued a rule in January that online merchants can be fined up to 500,000 yuan if they refuse consumers' request to return the unpacked goods. The rule will take effect on March 15.

Read more in Special Coverage: