On 6 September 2023, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) and the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) jointly organized the 2023 Forum on Conformity Assessment Serving Trade Facilitation, on the sidelines of the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing.
With the theme of “conformity assessment: enhancing the resilience and stability of the global industrial chain”, the forum invited representatives from governmental departments, international organizations, conformity assessment bodies, experts, scholars and enterprises in conformity assessment-related fields to share their insights and advices on enhancing the role of conformity assessment in improving the management level and ensuring the stability and resilience of industrial chains.
In the keynote speech session, Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, and Hannane Taidi, director general of the Testing, Inspection and Certification Council, stressed the role of conformity assessment in enhancing supply chain resilience and enabling sustainability. On the Chinese side, experts from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, CCPIT, the China Certification and Accreditation Association (CCAA), the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission, and Huawei, made presentations on international conformity assessment activities, including its role in facilitating trade, adding value to industrial chains, driving the development of the Greater Bay Area, and supporting the high quality development of industries, respectively.
Panel discussions were carried out subsequently, focusing on three key topics: (i) “how conformity assessment facilitates the cordinated development of regional foreign trade”, (ii) “how to promote conformity assessment and management innovation”, and (iii) “how conformity assessment supports high-quality development of advanced manufacturing industry”. Dr. Betty Xu, SESEC expert, joined the discussion on the first key topic. During her speech, she introduced the EU’s new legislation framework and the conformity assessment system established thereunder. She also shared the European practice and experience on leveraging standardization and conformity assessment to support the internal single market and its trade with other countries and regions.
A number of reports were released during the Forum, including the report on international cooperation in China’s quality certification, selected cases of “featured and excellent” international cooperation projects in the conformity assessment field, and the Chinese version of ISO’s Delivering Supply Chain Confidence.
