On 19 December 2020, the China National Institute of Standardisation (CNIS) organised, together with relevant industry associations, the 2020 Enterprise Standard Top Runner Conference in Beijing. The aim of the conference was to further promote the “top runner” system of enterprise standards, thus guiding the transformation and upgrading of enterprises, and matching the growing demand of consumers for quality products and services.
LIN Ling, the Director of CNIS’ Research Institute of Resources and Environment, provided an overview of the “top runner” system and its implementation status in 2020. Specifically, the first batch of the “top runner” list in 2020 was published, and included: 154 products/services, 331 enterprises and 453 enterprise standards released by 76 conformity assessment agencies. In terms of next steps, CNIS will work on four main directions: (i) promoting the work coordination of the “top runner” system of enterprise standard at both the national and local level; (ii) cooperating with relevant industry associations to continue developing “top runner” enterprise standards; (iii) further improving the evaluation mechanism of “top runner” enterprise standards; and (iv) promoting the mutual recognition of “top runner” standards, international standards and regional standards.
The Enterprise Standard “Top Runner” system started to be implemented in 2018, and is generally considered to provide good opportunities for enterprises. On the one hand, it helps them to build brands, increase market awareness, and trade quality products and services; on the other hand, the system contributes to the promotion of the enterprise credit system and market information disclosure mechanism – in addition to improving the overall business environment and market competition. During the conference, ZHANG Xiaogang, former president of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), also said that the implementation of the “top runner” system has effectively increased the influence and authority of Chinese enterprises.
Numerous policies and incentives have been formulated to encourage enterprises to actively take part in the enterprise standard “top runner” system. A few examples include:
- Government acceptance of the assessment results;
- Priority granted under government procurement tenders;
- Establishment of a special fund for “top runner” enterprises;
- Credit support;
- Local government financial incentives.
Nonetheless, there are no specific incentives for foreign-invested enterprises to participate in the programme. In the list of “top runner” enterprises and products, though there is some evidence of foreign enterprises (e.g. A.O.Smith and Maxell), large foreign enterprises like Siemens are absent. One reason is due to the lack of detailed specifications on how the evaluation and selection of the “top runner” system is conducted, which increases uncertainty for foreign enterprises vis-à-vis national competitors. As a result, large foreign enterprises often decide not to participate in the system. It must be noted that, in general, China established the “top runner” system to increase the provision of high-end products to the consumers, meaning that foreign enterprises can still be able to hold their market share in China as long as the quality of their products remains competitive.
