On October 28, 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China released the Proposal for Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Planning for National Economic and Social Development. The document contains three chapters. Chapter 1 summarizes the current international and domestic socio-economic issues faced. Chapter 2 lays out guiding principles and key goals suggested to address its current challenges. Chapter 3 breaks down macro-objectives into industrial specific objectives with suggested action plans.
12 items mentioned about “standard” in Chapter 3:
| No. | Item | Standards-related content |
| 1 | Item (7) Optimize and upgrade traditional industries | Strengthening the fundamental capabilities of quality and technical infrastructure. Enhancing the guiding role of standards. Improving the level of internationalization and strengthening brand development. |
| 2 | Item (9) Promote high-quality and efficient development of the service industry | Strengthening the development of service standards and quality brands. |
| 3 | Item (15) Vigorously boost consumption | Reinforcing brand leadership, upgrading standards. Applying new technologies to expand and upgrade commodity consumption. Creating new consumption scenarios with broad reach and high visibility. |
| 4 | Item (17) Remove all bottlenecks and obstacles that hinder unification of the national market | Improving integrated and well-coordinated circulation rules and standards, ensuring high-standard connectivity of market facilities. Reducing logistics costs across society. |
| 5 | Item (18) Actively expand the scale of opening-up | Aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules. Expanding market access and opening up in the service sector and other areas and increasing unilateral and regional opening-up. Accelerating the process of regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements. Expanding the network of high-standard free trade zones. |
| 6 | Item (22) Promote innovation and development of trade | Vigorously developing trade in services, encouraging service exports. Improving the management system for the negative list of cross-border trade in services. Enhancing the standardization of service trade. |
| 7 | Item (24) Build the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to a high standard | Deepening the “hard connectivity” of infrastructure, the “soft connectivity” of rules and standards, and the “people-to-people connectivity” with the people of the countries participating in the BRI. Improving the layout of a three-dimensional interconnection network and promote the construction of major landmark projects and “small but beautiful” projects that benefit people’s livelihoods in a coordinated way. |
| 8 | Item (25) Enhance overall productive capacity and quality benefits of agriculture | Promoting high-quality development of high-standard farmland construction. Strengthening the protection of black soil and the comprehensive utilization of saline-alkali land. Improving the quality of arable land. |
| 9 | Item (44) Promote equalization of basic public services | Establishing evaluation standards for the equalization of basic public services. |
| 10 | Item (45) Continue focusing on prevention and control of pollution and optimizing the ecosystem | Improving standards, monitoring, evaluation, and assessment systems for ecological and environmental protection. |
| 11 | Item (47) Actively promote and achieve carbon peaking | Establishing and improving a green and low-carbon standards system. Promoting refinement, alignment, and mutual recognition of international rules and standards. |
| 12 | Item (55) Consolidate and enhance the integrated national strategic system and capabilities | Building an advanced defense science and technology industrial system. Optimizing the layout of the defense science and technology industry. Promoting the generalization and compatibility of military and civilian standards. |
In short, the 15th Five-Year Plan proposals emphasize the use of standards as a key instrument for addressing pressing economic challenges arising from outdated technologies and industrial layouts. They also highlight the role of strengthened service standards and brand standards in revitalizing domestic consumption. At the same time, to ensure the smooth functioning of both domestic and international “dual circulation,” China will continue to expand high-level opening-up of its economy. In the green transition, standards are expected to play a central role in unifying and raising benchmarks, thereby delivering lasting improvements to the environment and ecosystems.
SESEC will continue tracing the development of the 15th Five-Year Planning and provide timely updates.
Source: https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202510/content_7046050.htm
