Strengthen the source governance of product quality and safety

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the quality and safety of industrial products. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made important instructions and put forward clear requirements multiple times. In May 2024, the State Council issued the "Decision on Adjusting and Improving the Management Catalogue of Industrial Product Production Licenses," strengthening the access management and source governance of important industrial products. Safeguarding the bottom line of industrial product quality and safety and protecting the lives and property of the people is a political responsibility that market regulatory authorities must firmly shoulder.

The overall quality and safety status of China's industrial products remains stable and improving.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the quality and safety level of China's industrial products has significantly improved. A batch of major technical equipment, major projects, important consumer goods, and high-tech products in emerging fields have reached internationally advanced levels. The quality pass rate of various industrial products has continuously increased, strongly supporting high-quality industrial development and a high-quality life for the people.

The guarantee of manufacturing product quality and safety has been continuously strengthened. Manufacturing is the foundation of the nation and the basis for strengthening the country, and an important part of the real economy. In recent years, the quality of key industrial products in China's manufacturing sector has steadily improved, the quality and safety status of basic industrial products has significantly improved, and technology-intensive industries such as computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing, as well as instrument manufacturing, have maintained strong quality competitiveness. The standards for industrial products have been continuously upgraded. In 2023, the quality pass rate of manufacturing products in China reached 93.7%, an increase of 5 percentage points compared to 2012. The failure rates in spot checks for cement and electric wires and cables dropped from 8.6% and 6.5% in 2019 to 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively. The conversion rate of international standards in equipment manufacturing fields such as construction machinery, chemicals, and ferroalloys exceeded 90%, further enhancing international competitiveness and recognition.

The quality and safety level of daily consumer goods continues to improve. Daily consumer goods are closely related to people's lives. In recent years, the overall quality level of daily consumer goods in China has comprehensively improved, with significant increases in product quality pass rates, consumer satisfaction with consumer goods, and the conversion rate of key consumer goods to international standards. The failure rates in spot checks for electric bicycles and gas water heaters have dropped nearly 10 percentage points compared to 2019. Since the implementation of the mandatory certification system, the pass rate for children's toys has risen from less than 40% to 96%, and for home appliances from 76.7% to 90.7%. Customer satisfaction scores for 11 categories of durable consumer goods have continuously increased for many years. The consistency between major consumer goods standards such as household appliances and textiles and international standards has reached 96%, basically achieving alignment with international standards.

The competitiveness of product quality brands has significantly increased. Brands reflect the quality and safety level of products and are an important embodiment of the comprehensive competitiveness of enterprises and even the country. In recent years, quality brand building has made positive progress, with a number of well-known enterprises and brands with strong competitiveness emerging. The awareness, reputation, and influence of Chinese brands have continuously improved. In 2024, the number of Chinese brands selected in the World Brand 500 increased from 40 in 2019 to 73, including 21 manufacturing brands. The market competitiveness and international influence of "Made in China" and "China Quality" have greatly improved.

The product quality and safety governance system has become more complete. In recent years, China's quality and safety laws and regulations have been gradually improved, and the product quality and safety risk monitoring mechanism, product injury monitoring system, and defective product recall management mechanism have been continuously improved. The quality and safety supervision system has been continuously optimized, implementing production license management for 27 types of 14 categories of industrial products and mandatory certification management for 100 types of 16 major categories of products. The leading role of standards has been effectively played. Among 44,000 national standards, more than 70% are related to industrial products, basically achieving standardized industrial production and quality supervision. A total of 877 national quality inspection centers have been established, with more than 52,000 inspection and testing institutions, effectively strengthening technical support capabilities.

While the overall safety situation is improving, it must also be recognized that the quality and safety situation of China's industrial products remains complex and severe, with some industries and fields still having shortcomings and weak links. The risks to the quality and safety of China's industrial products are largely caused at the source and transmitted from upstream. It is necessary to move the control point forward and act proactively to plug loopholes and address both symptoms and root causes. Only by building a strong front-end defense can the safety bottom line be firmly maintained.

Strengthen supervision of industrial product quality and safety.

Market regulatory authorities will adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discussions on market regulation, conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, adhere to safety first and prevention foremost, adhere to problem orientation and source governance, strengthen supervision of industrial product quality and safety, and effectively protect the lives and property of the people.

Tighten and implement the main responsibility of enterprises. Urge enterprises to earnestly implement the "Supervision and Management Regulations on the Implementation of Quality and Safety Main Responsibility by Industrial Product Production Units" and the "Supervision and Management Regulations on the Implementation of Quality and Safety Main Responsibility by Industrial Product Sales Units" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation. Urge enterprises to appoint quality and safety directors and safety officers, promote the improvement of responsibility implementation mechanisms that focus efforts at the end and achieve results, and effectively pass responsibility down to key personnel in enterprise quality management. Urge enterprises to strengthen control of key risk points, formulate and improve product quality and safety risk control lists, and implement the "daily control, weekly inspection, monthly scheduling" system. Make good use of the "Three Letters and One Notice" (Notice of Supervision and Handling, Interview Notice, Rectification Notice, Reminder and Urging Letter) to urge implementation mechanisms and ensure all measures are effectively executed. Strengthen defective product recall management and key product quality and safety traceability, improve the ability to assess safety defects of new products and new technologies, and accelerate the promotion of full-chain traceability of product quality and safety information for products such as gas appliances. Improve online platform transaction rules, study and formulate supervision and management regulations for platform enterprises to implement quality and safety main responsibilities, and clarify the responsibilities of all parties for online sales products.

Strict product access management. For six products recently newly included in industrial product production license management—cold-rolled ribbed steel bars, bottled liquefied petroleum gas regulators, steel wire ropes, plywood, blockboard, and safety helmets—urgently formulate detailed implementation rules and strictly manage approvals. Continue to conduct product quality and safety risk assessments, and promptly include high-risk varieties related to people's lives and property safety and public safety into production license management. Strictly manage mandatory product certification, include key products with high consumer attention, concentrated problem feedback, and significant safety impact in the mandatory certification catalogue, increase spot checks on certified products, and prevent non-compliant products from entering the market from the source. Scientifically and dynamically adjust the key industrial product quality and safety supervision catalogue, determine supervision measures and frequency based on product risk status, and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of supervision.

Strengthen the binding effect of mandatory standards. Improve and perfect the mandatory national standard system, include key high-risk industrial products in mandatory national standard management, convert products such as steel wire ropes, steel bars, and explosion-proof electrical equipment from recommended national standards to mandatory national standards, and further increase the coverage and authority of mandatory national standards. Implement the public safety standardization foundation project, accelerate the formulation and revision of mandatory standards in safety fields such as urban gas, hazardous chemicals, fireworks and firecrackers, and personal protective equipment, establish a rapid transformation and release mechanism for public safety standards under emergency conditions, and focus on improving safety and quality standards for "elderly-friendly and child-appropriate" products. Establish a comprehensive and wide-ranging standard implementation supervision system, build a national standard implementation monitoring network, promote strict enforcement of recently issued mandatory national standards such as lithium-ion batteries for electric bicycles, and strictly carry out certification, accreditation, and inspection and testing according to standards.

Strictly crack down on counterfeit and inferior products according to law. Increase law enforcement efforts, focusing on key product production and sales clusters, areas prone to safety issues, regions with weak safety supervision, as well as production and sales units with frequent consumer complaints and concentrated public opinion. Strengthen targeted law enforcement inspections and severely punish illegal and non-compliant behaviors. Improve law enforcement efficiency by integrating legal regulation, credit supervision, and intelligent supervision, enhancing grassroots market supervision and law enforcement capabilities, upgrading law enforcement equipment iteratively, and reinforcing systematic training for law enforcement personnel. Enforce strict standardized management of inspection and testing institutions, improve the quality of inspection work and technical control levels, and resolutely investigate and punish illegal acts such as falsification of inspection reports. Strengthen quality and safety supervision of key online-sold products, expand the coverage and frequency of supervision and random inspections, effectively use public exposure and offline traceability measures, focus on cleaning up and rectifying prominent issues such as online sales of "three-no" products, ensuring that the public can buy with confidence and use with peace of mind.