China's central government has announced plans to issue new rules regulating vehicle recalls.

The rules will be implemented later this year, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's product quality regulator.

"We have organized a series of meetings recently and our plan now is to enact the regulations this year," Liu Ping, vice director of the administration, said at a press conference in Beijing.

At present, China's only rules governing vehicle recalls are the Provisions on the Recall of Defective Automotive Products, which took effect in 2004.

But the rules lack a clear definition of "defective products," and the government's maximum fine is only 30,000 yuan ($4,545).

Last year, nearly 1.2 million vehicles were recalled by various auto manufacturers, according to Liu. Those recalls included 176,000 imported vehicles, 962,000 units produced by global brands in China, and 39,000 units made by domestic Chinese automakers.