BEIJING - The quality of the products China exported to the European Union (EU) improved during the first half of this year due to strict quality control measures, according to quality control authorities.

The number of quality complaints made by the EU regarding Chinese imports declined by 45 percent in the first half of 2011, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The administration attributed the improved quality to its nationwide crackdown on counterfeited and substandard products.

The administration launched a nationwide quality checkup in the first half of this year. Of the 4,815 batches of products that the quality control authorities checked between January and June, just 9.4 percent failed quality tests, 1.7 percentage points lower than that of the same period of last year, according to the administration.

A total of 218,000 counterfeiting cases have been investigated so far this year, involving goods worth a total of 9.5 billion yuan ($1.49 billion), the administration said.