On 19 May 2022, SAMR issued the Special Conditions for the Accreditation and Market Access of Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bodies. This regulation lays down the basic requirements for import and export commodity inspection bodies operating in the Chinese market.
These requirements cover various fronts, including the impartiality of the body, its emergency plan, organizational structure, scale, personnel management system, workplace, measures and procedures to ensure the safety of personnel and facilities, procedures of sample management, procedures to guarantee the effectiveness of monitoring results, objectiveness, accuracy, clearness, completion, traceability of inspection reports, its recording and archiving systems, etc.
Although this document covers almost all management dimensions of an inspection and testing body, there are still ambiguities for inspection and testing bodies when it comes to fulfilling requirements. For example, there is no clear definition of the “ inspection body”, so it is not clear whether testing bodies involvded are covered. This document also doesn’t indicate if and how international qualifications, such as ISO17020, are accepted and recognized in China to carry out import and export inspection business. Therefore, further elaboration on regulations or detailed implementation documents appear necessary and are expected to dispel the confusion of inspection and testing bodies at home and abroad.
