Since their enforcement in 1999, the Measures for the Administration of Nation Standards have always been the main supporting regulation of the Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China. The Measures are designed to guide the development and revision work of China’s national standardisation system, and therefore are an important part of the country’s legal and regulatory framework for standardisation. However, after the release of the Plan for Furthering the Standardization Reform and of the new Standardization Law, the Measures are no longer suitable for China’s current conditions. In this context, the Chinese government has made a series of revisions to the Measures, regarding which the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published a call for comments on 19 December 2020. The deadline for submitting comments is 18 January 2021.

The main changes in the proposed draft for comments are summarised as follows:

  1. The scope of national standardization development is specified according to the new Standardization Law. On the basis of this new scope, the revised Measures further distinguish mandatory standards with recommended standards.
  2. The “reference materials” outlined by the new Standardization Law is further defined as “technical requirements needed to be embodied by material objects”, requiring that the reference materials should “be used together with relevant standards for test and comparison s”. The numbering rule of reference materials is also clearly defined.
  3. Procedural provisions for different stages of the standard-setting process are added. These include: the addition of the mechanisms of standard verification, project evaluation, approval of the final version, and evaluation of the effects of standard implementation; the strengthening of the procedural requirements for soliciting opinions and for conducting technical examination; the request for a strict standard-setting cycle; and the clarification of the principles for handling patents related to national standards.
  4. The need to increase the supply of standards is highlighted. The revised Measures make clear that China should adopt and apply international standards, and at the same time compile and release foreign language editions of national standards. In addition, the Measures also introduce special procedures for the conversion of association standards into national standards. Finally, the draft Measures also stipulate that the standard-setting process and cycle can be shortened to respond to emerging emergencies.
  5. Efforts to promote the implementation of standards are outlined. After the publication of national standards, the State Council’s administrative departments in charge of standardization should make the standards text publicly available and free of charge for public accessibility. Furthermore, the Measures clarify : (i) the legal force of the old and new standards during transition period, (ii) the publicity and education of national standards, (iii) the mechanism of standard implementation feedback, and (iv) the mechanism of standards implementation evaluation.

The revision of the Measures for the Administration of National Standards supplements and improves China’s standards development and revision system. It reflects China’s efforts to establish a more scientific, transparent and applicable national standardisation system. However, this draft still overlooks some issues that would have a significant impact on overseas stakeholders.

The main points, including pros and cons, of the document observed by SESEC are summarised as follows:

  1. Improve the coordination between Chinese standards and international standards. The draft proposes that “the development of national standards and relevant international standards are encouraged to be made simultaneously, in order to accelerate the application of international standards” (Article 6). The draft also proposes that “the projects of national standards and international standards are encouraged to be applied simultaneously” (Article 16).
  2. The issue of copyright protection of adopted international standards still remains unsolved. Although the draft proposes that “the adoption of international standards should conform to the copyright policy of relevant international standards” (Article 6), it also states that “the State Council’s administrative departments in charge of standardization should make the standards text publicly available and free of charge for public accessibility and supervision” (Article 33). This latter article is, in fact, inconsistent with the copyright policy of most international standards organizations at present. Therefore, problems still exist in how to address the difference of copyright policies between China’s standards and international standards in a reasonable manner.
  3. The draft suggests that significant efforts will be made to promote the internationalisation of Chinese standards. Specifically, Article 7 proposes that China “needs to start the project initiation, compilation and issuance of foreign language editions of Chinese national standards, for areas which have not adopted international standards and relating to international trade, production capacity, and equipment cooperation”.
  4. The proposed Measures define, in a clear manner, the cycle of the development of national standards. Specifically, Article 22 indicates that “the approval of mandatory national standards should not exceed 24 months from their planning to final submission”. The cycle is further reduced to 12 months for recommended national standards.
  5. The mechanisms for the WTO/TBT notification of national standards still need to be improved. Although Article 26 of the draft Measures proposes that “the notification of calls for comments on mandatory national standards should meet the requirements of the WTO/TBT agreements”, there still is a large number of recommended national standards which are used as the basis of mandatory market access schemes, like CCC, – thus becoming de facto mandatory. These should be taken into consideration for WTO/TBT notification.
  6. The issue of the transitional period of standards remains unclear. Article 34 stipulates that “when new national standards are issued, but not yet fully implemented, enterprises can choose between the implementation of the original national standards and the implementation of new national standards. However, when newly revised national standards are implemented, the original national standards shall be abolished”. The article does not clarify how to determine the transitional period, which negatively impacts the level of transparency of the whole system.
  7. Policy guidance is enhanced for the application of recommended national standards. The proposed draft Measures state that “priority should be given to recommended national standard for the implementation of activities such as infrastructure construction, basic public services and government procurement” (Article 35), and at the same time that “enterprises and other relevant social organizations, as the key actors enforcing national standards, should strictly implement mandatory national standards and actively adopt recommended national standards during production stages, sales stages, etc.”  and “standardization administrative departments and relevant sector administrative departments at different levels are encouraged to adopt national standards when developing relevant policies” (Article 38).
  8. Finally, the draft Measures define the mechanisms through which association standards can be converted into national standards. Specifically, Article 31 stipulates that China “should build a mechanism through which association standards are converted to national standards, particularly in the case of association standards which are advanced, leading, with good implementation results, and which need to be adopted nation-wide”. This article clearly highlights the inevitable direction that association standards will take in the future, also stimulating social organisations to expand their goals and efforts in the development of association standards.

 

Visit here for the draft for comments of the Measures (in Chinese language)