Looking back at the past year, prominent achievements have been made in China’s standardization field with the promulgation and implementation of policies and administrative measures on standardization and quality work. Remarkable progress has also been made in the development, revision and management of Chinese standards at various levels, together with the great efforts of experts who contributed their expertise to make Chinese standards more harmonized and applicable.
At the end of 2023, an online voting was organized by China Standardization Press through its WeChat official account to select the top 10 major events, 10 outstanding figures, and 10 popular standards in 2023. The four-day campaign attracted the extensive participation of both standardizers and the public, reaching a record high of nearly 220,000 times of reading.
Here, the results are presented to showcase China’s standardization development in 2023.
China maps out an outline to boost its quality strength
The Outline of Boosting China’s Quality Strength was released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on February 6, 2023 to actively align with the international advanced technologies, rules and standards, and boost the national quality strength in an all-round way, providing quality support for building a modern socialist country in all respects and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. According to the Outline, by 2025, China will achieve initial results in increasing its quality strength by improving the economic quality and efficiency, enhancing the quality competitiveness of industries, improving the quality of products, projects and services, making more progresses in brand building, making quality infrastructure more modern and efficient, as well as improving the quality governance system. By 2035, China will have a more solid foundation of quality development, with prevailing advanced quality culture, and stronger comprehensive strength of quality and brands.
Revised Administrative Measures for National Standards put into effect
Revised by SAMR, the Administrative Measures for National Standards was officially put into effect on March 1, 2023. Based on the standardization practices over the past years, the document adjusts the specific scope of national standards, makes clear the work requirements on the procedures and stages of national standards development, and specifies the new requirements for the development and revision procedure, organization and management, implementation and supervision, as well as other aspects of national standards, so as to meet the increasingly growing demands for standards and raise the international level of standards. It also further strengthens the feedback and evaluation of standards implementation. The document will play a prominent role in improving the governance of national standards, reinforcing the efficiency of standardization governance, and better supporting the high-quality economic and social development with standardization.
First China Standardization Conference held in Nanjing
The first China Standardization Conference, co-hos ted by China Association for Standardization, People’s Government of Nanjing and Jiangsu Administration for Market Regulation, was held on March 30, 2023 at the IEC International Standards Promotion Center (Nanjing) in Nanjing, capital of East China’s Jiangsu province. With “standards and a unified market” as the theme, the conference consisted of one main session, five parallel sessions and seven technical activities. All standardizers were encouraged to improve the standards system to support the market rule-making, exert the leading role of standards in stimulating the vitality of business entities, strengthen the coordination of standards to smooth the circulation of market elements, and expand the institutional opening up of standards to facilitate the interconnectivity of national and international markets. The conference is expected to serve as a platform for the standardization cooperation and communication at home and abroad, and standardization knowledge promotion.
Guidelines for standards system on carbon peak and neutrality released
The Guidelines for Establishing the Standards System on Carbon Peak and Neutrality was released in April 2023 by SAC and other 10 ministries and commissions such as National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The standards system on carbon peak and neutrality includes four subsystems on basic common standards, carbon reduction standards, carbon removal standards and market-oriented mechanism standards, 15 second-class subsystems, as well as 63 third-class subsystems. The document puts forward the work priorities in four aspects: first, making concerted efforts on international standardization by taking measures such as setting up special working group and innovation team; second, enhancing international communication and cooperation especially with international organizations and Belt and Road countries; third, actively participating in international standards development; and fourth, promoting the harmonization of national and international standards.
Action plan on standardization talent cultivation released
The Special Action Plan on Standardization Talent Cultivation (2023-2025) was released in November 2023 by SAC, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. According to the plan, efforts will be made to innovate the standardization talent cultivation mechanism, improve the education and training system for standardization talents, optimize the environment for standardization talent development, and promote the development of expert teams in a coordinated way. It sets the following goals by 2025: the national standardization talent cultivation mechanism will be professional, vocational and systematic, the cultivation pattern of valuing, educating, and introducing standardization talents will take shape, and the vocational capability evaluation mechanism of standardization talents will be initially established.
SAMR (SAC) and CAE launch a major research project on standardization
SAMR (SAC) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) launched the “research project on major issues in implementing the Outline” on April 17, 2023. The project was designed to conduct indepth research on four main subjects within two years. To be specific, the “research on the supporting role of association standards in high-quality development” will probe into the supporting role of association standards in high-quality industrial development, and the internationalization strategy and digitalization of association standards. The “research on key issues in the standardization of environmental and social governance” will explore how to use standardization means in the aspects such as policy, standards system architecture, coordination and promotion to drive the green, low-carbon economic growth. The “research on key issues in the standardization of energy safety” will offer policy consultancy for safeguarding national energy security by means of standardization in key fields. The “research on policies and measures for institutional opening up of standards” will conduct thorough research on the implementation path and work mechanism for the institutional opening up of standards.
BDS included in the standard of ICAO for global application
The latest version of Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which was put into effect in November 2023, included the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) as one of the common navigation satellite systems for global civil aviation. The BDS has been independently constructed and operated by China with an eye on the needs of the national security and economic and social development. As one of the four internationally recognized navigation satellite systems, the BDS provides all-time, all-weather and high-accuracy positioning, navigation and timing services to users in more than 200 countries and regions across the world. International standardization work has provided the foundation for the global application of the BDS.
International Standardization (Chilin) Forum held in Nanjing
Focusing on the theme of “driving the transition to an all-electric society”, the International Standardization (Chilin) Forum was held on June 7, 2023 in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, attracting more than 400 standardization experts from international standards organizations, China, Germany, the U.K., and other countries. The event was hosted by Nanjing Municipal People’s Government, Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, and China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. With the support of IEC, ISO and ITU, the event was guided by SAC, German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (DKE), and British Standards Institution (BSI). During the event, an initiative was unveiled to accelerate the development of international standards for all-electric society. Three IEC white papers in Chinese were released, which showcased China’s latest outcomes in the participation of IEC standardization work and the development of the standards system for carbon peak and neutrality. These white papers were drafted with the concerted efforts of experts from China, Germany, France, the U.S., Japan, Italy and other countries.
IEC SEG 15 on metaverse officially established
With the leading effort of China Electronics Standardization Institute, IEC Standardization Evaluation Group 15, Metaverse, was officially established on January 12, 2023 to explore the needs for standardization and opportunities in the area of metaverse and related technologies. The tasks of the SEG 15 include investigating the needs for standardization in the area of metaverse, taking into account current research, technology and standardization activities, and trends; recommending an initial roadmap for standardization activities in the area of metaverse; engaging at the earliest stage with IEC and ISO TC/SC/SyCs, including JTC 1, as well as with other relevant organizations such as consortia; and making further recommendations to SMB and TMB as appropriate. The SEG 15 serves as an important outcome of international standardization in the area of metaverse.
2023 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization held
With the theme of “standardization for green, low-carbon and high-quality development”, the 2023 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization was held at the Qingdao International Conference Center on June 9, 2023. The event was co-hosted by SAMR (SAC) and Shandong Provincial People’s Government, and organized by Qingdao Municipal Government and Shandong Administration for Market Regulation. During the event, the Qingdao Initiative: International Standards for Green, Low-Carbon and High-Quality Development was released; a MoU was signed by SAC and African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission (AFSEC); IEC Statement on Supporting Capacity Building in China was announced; and the agreement on the International Standardization Training Base (Qingdao) was signed by ISO, SAC and Qingdao Municipal Government. Besides standardization activities, five sub-forums were convened, covering the topics of standardization & ocean negative carbon emissions, standardization & new power systems (green energy), standardization & modern green port and shipping, standardization for green and low-carbon development of SCODA, as well as capacity building and creating leadership in standardization.
Source: China Standardizaiton Magazine, issue 1 in 2024
