Revision “Administrative Provisions on National Standardization Guiding Technical Document” Published

On April 7, 2025, the Standardization Administration of China (SAC) officially issued the revised Administrative Provisions on National Standardization Guiding Technical Documents (“Provisions”), which came into effect immediately. These Provisions introduce significant updates to China’s standardization framework, particularly designed to support the rapid development of innovative technologies that are not yet mature enough to be formalized into national standards. This new regulatory approach aims to broaden the transformation channels for technological achievements, diversify the types of standardized deliverables, and accelerate the deployment of innovative standards to promote high-quality industrial development.

The guiding technical documents are positioned as a critical supplement to the national standards system, bridging the gap between early-stage technological innovation and the formal standardization process.

Key Innovations Introduced in the Revised Provisions

1. Diversification of Document Types

One of the most notable changes in the new Provisions is the classification of guiding technical documents into two distinct types:

• • Normative Guiding Technical Documents: These documents provide rules, guidelines, or specifications for standardization subjects that are still in technological development. They offer structured technical references and have the potential to be upgraded into full national standards in the future.
  • Report-Type Guiding Technical Documents: These documents compile data, technical experiences, case studies, developmental trends, and testing reports. They are intended to provide informative and reference-oriented content without prescribing mandatory rules.

This categorization closely follows international practices in standardization. For example, ISO and IEC classify their publications into types such as Technical Specifications (TS), Publicly Available Specifications (PAS), Technical Reports (TR), Guides, and International Workshop Agreements (IWA). By aligning with global practices, China seeks to enrich its portfolio of standardization deliverables and enhance its international standardization presence.

2. Adoption of a Project Registration System

The new Provisions simplify and accelerate the launch of guiding technical document projects by implementing a registration-based system. Under this system:

• • Once a project proposal is evaluated and approved by the relevant technical committee, it can be immediately registeredand move directly into the drafting phase without the need for a formal project approval process.

This change is intended to significantly reduce the time required to initiate projects and support the agile development of standards in fast-evolving technological fields.

3. Relaxation of Voting Requirements

The Provisions also lower the threshold for project and document approval, compared to the stricter requirements for national standards:

• • During project initiation:
    • At least 75% of the committee members must participate in the vote.
    • Approval requires only a simple majority (more than 50%)of participating votes.
  • During technical review:
    • Online meetings are permitted.
    • Approval similarly requires a simple majority among participating members.

In contrast, for national standards, approval requires:

• • 75% minimum voting participation;
  • Two-thirds affirmative votes;
  • No more than one-fourth of participants voting against.

By relaxing the voting requirements, the SAC aims to increase the volume of guiding technical documents available and provide more technical support for emerging industries.

4. Shortened Development Timelines

In a move to accelerate the deployment of innovative technical documents, the Provisions introduce more compressed timelines compared to national standards:

Note: In special cases, timelines may be shortened or extended under specified rules.

Thus, the overall project cycle for guiding technical documents is shorter and more flexible than that of traditional national standards. The maximum project period is set at 12 months, with extensions capped at 3 months if needed.

Strategic Significance

• Accelerating Innovation and Technology Transfer

The revised Provisions are strategically positioned to facilitate the rapid transformation of scientific and technological innovations into industrial applications. By offering a quicker and more flexible alternative to national standards, guiding technical documents enable emerging technologies to be standardized and adopted at an early stage, thus accelerating their commercialization and diffusion across industries.

• Enhancing International Alignment

By mirroring international practices in document categorization and management, China is demonstrating a commitment to align its standardization system more closely with global systems, promoting the international recognition of its domestic technical achievements and supporting Chinese enterprises’ global competitiveness.

• Stimulating Industrial Innovation

The Provisions encourage greater participation by industry associations and technical committees in the standardization process. They also foster an environment where companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), can actively contribute to and benefit from the standardization of cutting-edge technologies, thereby narrowing the technological gap between SMEs and large enterprises.

Some Specific Supporting Measures and potential Impacts for China Standardization System

1. Encouragement of Association Standards

The Provisions explicitly encourage the conversion of advanced and applicable association standards into guiding technical documents. This is an important step forward from the 2023 SAC rules, which allowed association standards to be adopted into recommended national standards.

By institutionalizing this conversion pathway, China promotes:

• • Faster diffusion of advanced technologies;
  • Stronger technical support for SMEs;
  • Stimulated innovation vitality across industries.

Some analyses point out that association standards that are transformed into guiding technical documents can later be further upgraded to national standards if appropriate. Whether SAC will allow or promote such activity will be under observation, simply because there are too many association standards at this moment.

2. Document Numbering and Formatting

To clearly distinguish guiding technical documents from national standards, the following formatting rules are applied:

• • Numbering: Prefixed with “GB/Z”, followed by a sequential number starting from 1, and the year of issue.
  • Cover Page: Only the publication dateis indicated. No implementation date is provided, reflecting the documents’ reference-only nature without any mandatory enforcement.

This distinction ensures clarity for users and maintains the formal separation between different types of standardization deliverables.

Conclusion

The Administrative Provisions on National Standardization Guiding Technical Documents represent a major innovation in China’s standardization system, aligning with both domestic needs and international practices. By offering a faster, more flexible pathway to standardize emerging technologies, the Provisions are expected to:

• Enhance the supply of standards in fast-developing sectors.
• Support the integration of technology and industry.
• Promote the rapid transformation of scientific achievements into marketable industrial capabilities.
• Strengthen China’s voice in global standardization governance.

In the future, the guiding technical documents are likely to play a more important role.

Access to the original article in Chinese from here:

https://www.sac.gov.cn/xw/bzhdt/art/2025/art_debaf053239b46059c4f2c9a116a1180.html