On August 14, 2024, the Sixth China-ASEAN Cooperation Dialogue on Automotive Standards and Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the Dialogue) was successfully held in Bangkok, Thailand. The Dialogue was co-hosted by the China Automotive Standardization Research Institute and the Automotive Products Working Group of the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ), with support from the Thai Industrial Standards Institute and Thailand’s Department of Land Transport under the Ministry of Transport. The President of China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd (CATARC) and the Chairman of ACCSQ attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Additionally, Mr. Guo Chengguang, Deputy Director-General of Standards Innovative Management Department of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, attended online and offered congratulations on the Dialogue’s success. The event brought together around 130 officials and experts from relevant government departments, institutions and enterprises across China and ASEAN.
During the Dialogue, the Chinese delegation acknowledged the positive progress in automotive standardization cooperation, highlighting the transition from technical-level collaboration to governmental-level cooperation. The Dialogue is now an integral part of the official cooperation framework Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment (TBT) between ASEAN and China. Furthermore, the scope of the Dialogue has expanded from bilateral exchanges to multilateral coordination. The ASEAN delegation also recognized the extensive information sharing and joint research between China and ASEAN in the automotive sector, which has significantly strengthened regional coordination on automotive standardization and provided robust support for the development of the automotive industry in the ASEAN region.
The Dialogue focused on a range of topics, including standards, policies, regulations, testing, certification, and development trends of emerging technologies. Participating organizations included the China Automotive Standardization Research Institute, Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority, the Thailand Automotive Institute, the Vietnam Register, as well as companies such as SAIC Motor, Yutong Bus, NIO, CATARC Automotive Research and Inspection Center (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., CATARC Huacheng Certification (Tianjin) Co.,Ltd., etc.
Prior to the Dialogue, discussions on regional automotive industrial cooperation, standardization and technological innovation took place between the President of CATARC, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Thai Industrial Standards Institute, the Director-general of Thailand’s Department of Land Transport under Ministry of Transport, the Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, and the Chair of the ACCSQ’s Automotive Products Working Group.
This annual conference serves as a key platform for dialogue and exchange between China and ASEAN on automotive standardization. Looking ahead, under the guidance of relevant government departments, CATARC, as the leading stakeholder on the Chinese side, remains committed to enhancing exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries in the fields of standards, testing, and certification, and aims to promote the further development of the China-ASEAN automobile standardization cooperation mechanism.
