In this Talkstandards exclusive article Mr Wang Ping, Deputy Chief Engineer, Deputy Executive Governor of Science and Technology Committee, CNIS (China National Institute of Standardization) describes CNIS’ role in China’s standardization. Mr Wang Ping also exclusively outlines the current state of China’s standardization, article found here.

Affiliated with the General Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ), China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) is a non-profit national body engaging in standardization research. With a history of 46 years, CNIS provides important technical support to the country’s economical development and social progress.

CNIS Key Facts:

Staff: 460

Annual Budget: ¥450 million (RMB)

Projects from government and from the market,

Conducting totally 29 technical committees and Sub-committees for Standardization Administration of China (SAC).

AQSIQ and SAC have used CNIS as their think tank for policy making on standardization and the technical supervision of the market. Since the 1980s, CNIS has conducted extensive research for government agencies, such as drafting the first edition of standardization law, accomplishing the project of China’s standardization strategy funded by the MOST, and drafting the policy of inclusion of IPR in China national standards.

CNIS always focuses on the economic institutional reform and how the standardization system of China should be made consistent with the development of a market economy. CNIS experts have studied the diverse experiences of the standardization systems development in EU countries, the United States, Japan, through research visits, field research and literature research in China. CNIS experts have examined the strengths and weaknesses of those systems through a comparative analysis from the perspective of market economy. This research has led to proposals to the Chinese government that have influenced policy making and institutional reform in China.

1. CNIS develops technical regulations (which in China are called “mandatory standards”) for government and drafts voluntary standards for industry via relevant technical committees of SAC. The major standardization areas of CNIS are:Basic standardization including standardization principles and methodology, graphic and symbols, terminology, ergonomics, statistics;

2. Standardization theories and policies, international standardization policies and rules, standardization education;

3. Energy conservation, water saving, new & renewable energy, environmental protection products, environmental management, cleaner production, recycling economy, resource comprehensive utilization, and climate change mitigation etc;

4. Information classification & coding technology, electronic business, manufacturing information, geographical information & biotech, population & health information technology and credit technology fields;

5. Quality management system, consumer satisfaction degree, product quality and safety, defective product recall, production safety;

6. Food safety monitoring and control, food sensory analysis, geographical indications and reference materials of agricultural products, traceability of agricultural products;

7. Public security included natural disaster, accident, comprehensive emergency response, and emergency equipment and products;

8. Basic optics, ophthalmic optics, vision health, eye and face protection, optical design and manufacturing and engineering application & services etc;

There is a Standard Library in CNIS, which has a large collection of standards not only of China but also from ISO, IEC, ITU, as well as from EU countries, United States, Japan etc. The Library provides information services to industry and the public sector.

There are also three important offices in CNIS to support AQSIQ and SAC directly:

1. The Office of Technical Examination of National Standards,

2. National Examination Center for Industrial Production License,

3. Defective Product Administration.

For further information and discussion on China’s standardization policies, visit Talkstandards’ June Open Forum.

Acknowledgement: I would like to express my gratitude to my friend Dr. Dieter Ernst at the EAST WEST CENTER (Honolulu) for his editorial help in the preparation of this document.