PRC Standards System: Key Organizations
The standards system in China is administered at the top by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and headed primarily by the Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (SAC). In addition, other government and private sector organizations provide input and participate in the standards process.
This section provides information on these key organizations:
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)
Directly under the supervision of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, SAMR is in charge of regulating areas such as market competition, monopolies, intellectual property, and drug safety. The Administration was created in the 2018 Chinese government restructuring.
SAMR consolidates in one ministry the market regulation functions previously shared by three separate ministries, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC).
SAMR has 29 internal departments, including:
- General Office
- Department of Comprehensive Planning
- Department of Law and Regulation
- Enforcement and Inspection Bureau
- Registration Bureau (Small and Micro Enterprises, Individual Businesses, and Specialized Market Party Building Office)
- Department of Credit Regulation and Supervision
- Anti-Monopoly Bureau
- Price Supervision and Anti-Unfair Competition Bureau (Office for Regulating Direct Selling and Cracking Down on Pyramid Schemes)
- Department of Online Transaction Regulation
- Department of Advertising Regulation
- Quality Development Bureau
- Department of Product Quality and Safety Supervision and Regulation
- Department of Food Safety Coordination
- Department of Food Production Safety Supervision
- Department of Food Operation Facility Safety Supervision
- Department of Special Food Safety Supervision and Regulation
- Department of Food Safety Sampling Inspection
- Special Equipment Safety Supervision Bureau
- Department of the Metrology
- Department of Standards Technology Regulation
- Departments of Standards Innovation Regulation
- Department of Certification Supervision and Regulation
- Department of Accreditation and Testing Supervision and Regulation
- Department of Press and Publicity
- Department of Science, Technology, and Finance
- Department of Personnel
- Department of International Cooperation (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs Office)
- Party Committee
- Retired Cadres Office
Source: https://www.uschina.org/sites/default/files/samr_organization_chart.pdf
Among its primary responsibilities, SAMR administrates both the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC).
CNCA supervises all certification and accreditation activities throughout China, while SAC is the national standards body.
Learn more about SAMR [English] [Chinese]
Standardization Administration of China (SAC)
The
Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China (SAC) was established in 2001 by the State Council and is administered by SAMR.
SAC is the Chinese National Standards Body and takes part in several standards-related activities, including:
- Deliver national standards plans, approve and publish national standards, deliberate and release important documents such as standardization policies, administrative rules, programs and announcements;
- Notify mandatory national standards to the public;
- Coordinate, guide and supervise standards work concerning industry, local areas, organizations and enterprises;
- Represent China to join ISO, IEC and other international or regional standardization organizations;
- Sign and execute international standards cooperation agreements;
- Undertake the daily work of the standardization coordination mechanism under the State Council.
Source: http://www.sac.gov.cn/sacen/aboutsac/What_we_do/201411/t20141118_169917.htm
Development of laws and policies
SAC is responsible for the coordination of laws and regulations on standardization, as well as the research and promotion of standardization policies.
Currently, there are two relevant documents which govern standardization in China:
Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of China
Regulation for the Implementation of the Standardization Law of the People’s Republic of
China
Development and promotion of standards
SAC is responsible for the development of all Chinese National Standards, including the administration of technical committees. Within SAC, the following departments handle the development of national standards:
Standards Technical Management Department
Main duties:
- Make the strategies, plans, policies and administrative rules related to standardization and organize related implementation work;
- Undertake the project approval, numbering, notification as well as authorization, approval and publication of mandatory national standards;
- Responsible for the investigation and punishment of major illegal activities such as breach of mandatory national standards;
- Organize to develop voluntary national standards (including standard reference);
- Undertake the project approval, review, numbering, publication and reevaluation of voluntary national standards;
- The daily work of the standardization coordination mechanism under the State Council;
- Assume the management work of national standardization technical committees, and other work assigned by SAMR.
Standards Innovative Management Department
Main duties:
- MCoordinate, guide and supervise the sector and local standardization work;
- MRegulate, lead and supervise the development of association standards and enterprise standardization activities;
- MCarry out the disclosure, publicity, implementation and promotion work of national standards;
- MManage the national article numbering, commercial bar code and labeling work;
- MUndertake the related work on uniform social credit code of nationwide corporate and other organizations;
- MOrganize and participate in the activities of ISO, IEC and other international or regional standardization organizations;
- MOrganize and conduct the related work on standards comparison and compliance with internationally advanced standards and adoption of international standards;
- MUndertake other work assigned by SAMR.
Source: http://www.sac.gov.cn/sacen/aboutsac/Organization/201411/t20141118_169920.htm
Learn more about SAC’s standards development activities
View a list of SAC’s technical committees
Registration of sector and local standards
In China, local or sectoral standards may be developed where no national standard exists, but the development of these standards is usually coordinated by SAC. In addition, local and sector (industrial) standards must be registered and filed with SAC once they are approved.
Within SAC, the Standards Innovative Management Department acts as coordinator and registrar for industrial and local standards activities.
National representative to international and regional organizations
As the Chinese National Standards Body, SAC is the official representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC), and other international and regional fora.
As the national representative to these bodies, SAC manages and coordinates Chinese technical committees and oversees all Chinese participation in the organizations.
Learn more about Chinese participation in international standards organizations
WTO/TBT Enquiry Point
In China, SAC has been designated the official enquiry point for the World Trade Organization’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. As the Chinese WTO/TBT Enquiry Point, SAC collects all of the TBT Notifications from other member countries from the WTO website, and also forwards Chinese comments to the WTO Secretariat.
View recent WTO/TBT notifications by China
Get information and sign up for a free e-mail subscription service in order to review and comment on TBT Notifications from China and other WTO member countries:
China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS)
The China National Institute of Standardization known as the Institute of Standardization of the State Science and Technology Commission when set up in 1963) is
directly subordinate to State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR). As a national social service institution dedicated to standardization researches, it mainly addresses the global, strategic and comprehensive
standardization issues in national economy and social development of China.
Currently, CNIS has over 500 employees, including research fellows and doctor degree-holders and its researches mainly involve the standardization development strategy, basic theories, principles and approaches, and standards systems.
Specifically, its work covers the standardization researches on energy conservation and emission reduction, quality management, international trade facilitation, vision health and safety protection, modern services, public safety,
public management and government informationization, information classification and coding, ergonomics, and food sensory analysis; and the preparation and revision of related standards; the operation of the secretariats of the
National Standardization Technical Committee and its sub-committees; the promotion and application of research and development results from standards-related experiments and tests; the appraisal of energy-efficiency labeling and
customer satisfaction; the protection and technical support for geographical indication products; the construction of standards resources and the provision of social services; the operation of the national standards sharing service
platform and the construction and application of the basic standardization scientific data resources. At the same time, CNIS are directly responsible to the administrative functions of SAMR and the Standardization Administration of China,
including recalls of defective products, technical reviews of national standards, and the industrial products and foodstuff manufacture license management.
As a public interest institution at national level, CNIS is committed to actively participate in international standardization activities by taking the leadership of the international organizations, including the vice president of
the Organization for an International Geographical Indications Network (oriGIn) and the vice chairs and secretaries of the technical structures of ISO, and presiding over the development of dozens of ISO standards.
China Association of Standardization (CAS)
The
China Association for
Standardization (CAS) was founded in 1978 and consists of organizations and individuals engaged in voluntary standardization nation-wide. It is a public society approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and led by SAMR. CAS is also a member of the China Association for Science & Technology (CAST).
Today,
CAS’ membership includes over 30,000 individual members and 400 institutional
members, reaching 30 provinces throughout China. CAS’ main activities include:
- Organizing academic seminars and exchanges for international and domestic experts
- Conducting research on policies, laws, regulations and concerned technical issues related to standardization
- Conducting certification services
- Disseminating knowledge of standardization, and conducting training for standardization officials;
- Publishing notifications of national standards and concerned standardization information
- Promoting cooperation and exchanges with overseas standardization organizations, developing relations with standardization bodies, experts and scholars in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, actively organizing people to join the
domestic, regional and international activities on standardization;
- Protecting the rights and interests of standards professionals and conducting various service activities
China Quality and Standards Publishing and Media Co., Ltd. / Standards Press of China (SPC)
The China Quality and Standards Publishing and Media Co., Ltd. was restructured from China Quality Inspection Press and established in January 2019. As a publishing institution directly under the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR),
it publishes national standards, industrial standards, local standards, group standards, national metrological verification regulations, metrological technical specifications, as well as the application guide of important standards and regulations,
academic monographs, technical manuals, professional teaching materials,
and digital publications in quality management, standardization, certification and accreditation, and other related fields.
Introduction to PRC standards System
