BEIJING - Taobao.com, China's leading e-commerce platform, has been advised to stop selling drugs as the website hasn't obtained relevant official certificates, according to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

Wang Songlin, a senior SFDA official, made the remarks Friday at a news conference addressing recent controversy centered on Taobao entering the drug retailing businesses.

Retailers must first get approval from food and drug administrative departments in order to sell drugs on the Internet, and they must post their certificate number on the front page of their website, Wang said.

According to Wang, what Taobao has is a certificate for providing drug information over the Internet, not the one required for selling drugs.

Official figures from the SFDA show that China has 69 certified online drug trading groups, and 39 of them are allowed to sell drugs to individuals.