Transcript of the Special Press Conference on the "Action Plan for Accelerating High-Level Opening-up of Certification and Accreditation (2024–2030)"

Good morning everyone! Welcome to the special press conference of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Certification and accreditation, as an important part of the national quality infrastructure, play a significant role in promoting the construction of a unified national market and facilitating international trade exchanges and cooperation. To effectively implement the reform tasks of improving the high-level opening-up system and mechanism proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and to better serve high-quality development and high-level opening-up, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments, jointly issued the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Promotion of High-Level Opening-up of Certification and Accreditation (2024-2030)".

To help everyone better understand the specific content of the "Action Plan," today we have invited Mr. Pu Chun, Deputy Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Director of the National Certification and Accreditation Administration, to introduce relevant information and answer reporters' questions. In addition, we have invited Mr. Yao Lei, Deputy Director of the Certification Supervision Department, Mr. Gu Shaoping, Director of the Accreditation and Testing Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and Mr. Han Changtian, Deputy Commissioner of Negotiations from the WTO Department of the Ministry of Commerce, to answer questions of interest.

First, please allow Director Pu to introduce the relevant situation of the "Action Plan."

Thank you, host! Hello to all media friends! I am very pleased to attend today's press conference.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed to adhere to promoting reform through opening-up, enhance opening-up capacity through expanding international cooperation, and build a new system of a higher-level open economy. To accelerate the construction of a certification and accreditation system conducive to cultivating and developing new productive forces, and meeting the requirements of high-quality development and high-level opening-up, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Commerce, People's Bank of China, State Taxation Administration, Financial Regulatory Administration, China Securities Regulatory Commission, National International Development Cooperation Agency, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and other departments, jointly formulated the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Promotion of High-Level Opening-up of Certification and Accreditation (2024-2030)", which was officially released and implemented on August 28, 2024. The introduction of this "Action Plan" clarifies the goals, work paths, task measures, and safeguard measures for high-level opening-up of certification and accreditation. I will now introduce it specifically from three aspects:

Overall requirements, The "Action Plan" proposes to promote deep reform and high-quality development of the certification and accreditation industry through high-level opening-up, accelerate the formation of a certification and accreditation system that matches China's comprehensive national strength and international status, and provide stronger support for advancing Chinese-style modernization. Specific goals are set in two stages: by 2025, the international cooperation pattern of certification and accreditation will be further improved, a policy environment conducive to high-level opening-up of certification and accreditation will basically be formed, the ability to participate in the formulation of international certification and accreditation standards and rules will be significantly enhanced, a reasonably structured international talent team in certification and accreditation will be initially built, and international cooperation in certification and accreditation will better meet the development needs of the certification and accreditation cause and national economic and trade development. By 2030, a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional policy environment fully supporting high-level opening-up of certification and accreditation will be further improved, the international recognition of China's certification and accreditation results will be greatly increased, the number of international talents in the certification and accreditation industry will achieve significant growth, and a certification and accreditation system compatible with high-quality development will be fully established.

Main tasks, The "Action Plan" sets out five areas of content. First, improve and perfect the international cooperation pattern of certification and accreditation. This includes specific measures at both international and domestic levels. At the international level, strengthen communication and exchange of government certification and accreditation policies and regulations, and build multiple bilateral and multilateral international cooperation platforms; at the domestic level, strengthen interdepartmental communication and coordination, build a unified deployment and coordinated promotion system for international cooperation in certification and accreditation, support the open development of key regional certification and accreditation fields, and create a number of "bridgeheads" for opening-up in the certification and accreditation field. Second, comprehensively improve the effectiveness of international cooperation in certification and accreditation. This includes accelerating the promotion of foreign recognition of China's certification and accreditation results, fully implementing the "small and beautiful" international mutual recognition cooperation projects for quality certification, and actively contributing mutually recognized solutions that serve global common development. Third, promote the coordinated development of certification and accreditation with standards and industries. This includes establishing a coordination mechanism between certification and accreditation and standardization work, and building a certification and accreditation service chain deeply integrated with industrial and supply chains. Fourth, enhance the international development level of the certification and accreditation industry. This includes strengthening the internationalization capacity building of conformity assessment bodies, enhancing industry brand building, and strengthening overseas business layout. Fifth, strengthen the foundational support for high-level opening-up of certification and accreditation. This includes strengthening basic research, enhancing digital and intelligent empowerment, and strengthening the cultivation and exchange of international talents in certification and accreditation.

Organizational guarantees, The "Action Plan" proposes to strengthen policy coordination, planning guidance, work coordination, technological innovation, and publicity promotion as safeguard measures, encourage various departments and localities to improve certification and accreditation work mechanisms and supporting policies, promote various financial institutions to increase support, make good use of existing preferential or reward policies, explore better support for industry international layout by social capital according to market principles, strengthen the linkage role of high-level opening-up platforms, support pilot explorations of new paths, models, and experiences, and gather the joint force and innovative vitality to promote high-level opening-up of certification and accreditation.

Next, the State Administration for Market Regulation (National Certification and Accreditation Administration) will work with various departments to conscientiously implement the "Action Plan." First, comprehensively deepen various reforms in the certification and accreditation field, promote opening-up through reform, increase vitality through reform, and focus on improving the credibility, professionalism, and international influence of certification and accreditation. Second, fully leverage the platform role of the inter-ministerial cooperation mechanism for certification and accreditation, promote the coordination of certification and accreditation with national diplomacy, foreign trade, industry, and other policies, deeply integrate with economic and social development, and further improve the international cooperation pattern of certification and accreditation. Third, strengthen policy interpretation and publicity guidance, promote the high-level opening-up action of certification and accreditation to go deeper and more solidly, and continuously achieve new results. We hope media friends will pay more attention to certification and accreditation, increase publicity and promotion efforts, publicize and interpret the "Action Plan" well, and let certification and accreditation play an effective role in a broader field and wider scope.

I will briefly introduce these first. Now, regarding the specific situation of the "Action Plan," we welcome questions from reporters. Thank you all!

Thank you, Director Pu. Now we will enter the reporter question session. Please state your news organization before asking your question.

Thank you for your question. The "Decision" made by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee clearly put forward the deployment requirements for "improving the high-level opening-up system and mechanism." We formulated the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Promotion of High-Level Opening-up of Certification and Accreditation" to align with the overall strategic requirements of the Party Central Committee for promoting high-level opening-up in the new era, fully leverage the international advantages of the certification and accreditation system, use high-level opening-up in the certification and accreditation field as a guide, comprehensively improve the credibility, professionalism, and international mutual recognition level of certification and accreditation, thereby making greater contributions to serving high-level opening-up. The main considerations for formulating this "Action Plan" are as follows:

First of all, the most distinctive feature of certification and accreditation is internationalization. It is an internationally recognized market credit tool, quality management tool, and trade facilitation tool, playing a fundamental role in international economic and trade exchanges and even global economic governance. According to the strategic deployment made at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, improving the system and mechanism for high-level opening-up requires us to actively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional openness in rules, regulations, management, and standards, and actively participate in the reform of the global economic governance system. Certification and accreditation will play an increasingly important role in this process. As tariff measures in international multilateral and bilateral trade are gradually replaced by various non-tariff measures, especially technical trade measures, countries around the world increasingly rely on certification and accreditation and other conformity assessment technical trade measures. Their application scope is becoming broader and more flexible. Certification and accreditation have gradually extended from traditional trade fields to new areas such as digital trade and carbon trade, and expanded from product quality and personal health and safety requirements to environmental governance, labor protection, social responsibility, and other aspects. It is increasingly becoming an important factor influencing global trade and industrial patterns. It can be said that under the new situation of profound changes in the international governance system, certification and accreditation are increasingly moving to the forefront of national reform, development, and opening-up; improving the system and mechanism for high-level opening-up, certification and accreditation is one of the most needed and effective focal points. Facing the new requirements of high-level opening-up, it is necessary to formulate an overall plan to promote high-level openness in the field of certification and accreditation, fully align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and build a certification and accreditation system compatible with the requirements of high-quality development and high-level opening-up, thereby enhancing and empowering the improvement of the system and mechanism for high-level opening-up.

At the same time, there are still some prominent shortcomings in the current field of certification and accreditation that are not compatible with high-level opening-up, urgently requiring deep reforms to promote high-level openness. While fully recognizing the important role of certification and accreditation, we also clearly see that the current status of certification and accreditation work still falls short of the requirements for national high-quality development and high-level opening-up. The main issues are weak credibility, insufficient specialization, and limited international discourse power. There are few certification systems internationally that truly achieve mutual recognition, and in many industry fields, foreign certification systems basically dominate. Our country's ability to participate in the formulation of international conformity assessment rules also needs to be improved. In response to these situations, we focus on goal orientation and problem orientation, with credibility and specialization as the main line, and deepening international cooperation and mutual recognition as the preferred goal. We are deploying and carrying out actions to accelerate the promotion of high-level openness in certification and accreditation, using high-level openness to drive further deepening of reforms in the certification and accreditation industry. We are working in concert on improving top-level design, promoting international mutual recognition, advancing industrial coordination, strengthening capacity building, and consolidating foundational support, comprehensively enhancing the credibility, specialization, and international influence of China's certification and accreditation, and undertaking a more glorious mission in building a new development pattern, promoting high-quality development, and high-level opening-up.

The World Trade Organization is an important pillar of multilateralism and a key stage for global economic governance. Certification and accreditation are an important part of the WTO's technical barriers to trade agenda. With strong support from the State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments, the Ministry of Commerce has focused on promoting multilateral regulatory cooperation among members in the field of certification and accreditation under the WTO framework, continuously improving the internationalization level of China's certification and accreditation, and gradually expanding high-level openness in certification and accreditation. The main work includes the following three aspects:

First, promoting the successful adoption of the "Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening Regulatory Cooperation and Reducing Technical Barriers to Trade" at the WTO. This declaration was initiated by China and co-signed by 103 WTO members. It was finally adopted at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference held in February 2024, becoming the first ministerial declaration in the field of technical barriers to trade since the WTO's establishment. The declaration calls on members to strengthen regulatory cooperation in areas such as certification and accreditation, promote compatibility and mutual recognition of regulatory measures, help members jointly address risks and challenges, and support global trade growth. Second, assisting in the adoption of the "Guidelines on Conformity Assessment Procedures," helping WTO members' regulatory authorities select and design effective and efficient certification and other conformity assessment measures, and strengthening trust and cooperation among regulatory agencies. Third, for many years, compiling the "Technical Guide for Export Commodities," providing high-quality public information services to help Chinese foreign trade enterprises understand and master foreign market standards, technical regulations, certification and accreditation, and other market access requirements, effectively responding to foreign technical trade barriers. In 2023, the website had nearly 10 million visits.

Next, the Ministry of Commerce will earnestly implement the deployment of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, safeguard the multilateral trading system centered on the WTO, actively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, deeply participate in discussions and consultations on WTO certification and other conformity assessment procedures, actively share China's good practices in the field of certification and accreditation, and implement the relevant measures of the "Action Plan," contributing multilateral efforts to accelerate the promotion of high-level openness in certification and accreditation.

Thank you for your question. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed to "accelerate the formation of production relations more compatible with new quality productivity, promote the aggregation of various advanced production factors toward developing new quality productivity, and significantly improve total factor productivity." From a global perspective, new quality productivity is the key to winning future international competitive advantages and initiative. Developing new quality productivity requires a good international environment, high-level opening-up, and the aggregation of advanced and high-quality production factors such as global technology, talent, and information, optimizing factor allocation globally, and improving total factor productivity. Therefore, the "Action Plan" specifically makes key deployments for promoting the development of new quality productivity through certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing, and proposes specific measures.

How do we view the role of certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing in the development of new quality productivity? I would summarize it in one sentence: certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing are the most powerful expression of new quality productivity. This is because certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing, as fundamental market economy institutions, play important roles in improving market efficiency, strengthening quality management, and facilitating trade. We usually say they are market credit tools, quality management tools, and trade facilitation tools, promoting the development of new quality productivity through credit empowerment, quality empowerment, and efficiency empowerment. Specifically, through credit empowerment, new technologies and new products gain market trust and transform into real market demand, creating a good market environment for new quality productivity; through quality empowerment, business entities are stimulated to "micro-innovate," continuously improve management levels and market competitiveness, achieving value enhancement for the development of new quality productivity; through efficiency empowerment, resources and factors are allocated efficiently, international trade circulation is facilitated, and the resilience and security of global industrial and supply chains are improved, playing a multiplier effect for the development of new quality productivity.

Currently, a global industrial development ecosystem model of "technological innovation - standard certification and testing - industrial development" has been formed, profoundly influencing modern industrial development and the global division of labor layout. Chinese enterprises deeply participate in global industrial competition and urgently need to strengthen the coordination, support, and guidance of certification and accreditation for industrial development, increasing the supply of certification and accreditation systems compatible with high-quality development. To this end, the "Action Plan" aims to promote the coordinated development of certification and accreditation with standards and industry, focusing on key frontier scientific and technological fields, strengthening the supply of certification and accreditation systems and the construction of inspection and testing capabilities. Through an integrated collaborative innovation model of industry, academia, research, and application, it encourages enterprises to deeply participate in international conformity assessment organizations' activities, encourages industrial innovation cooperation platforms to develop new certification and accreditation schemes, establishes a certification and accreditation service model covering the entire chain, process, and lifecycle, promotes mutual recognition of certification and accreditation results, adapts a high-level trust chain to a high-quality industrial chain and supply chain, improves the resilience and security level of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and accelerates the development of new quality productivity.

Thank you for your question. As everyone knows, certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing are internationally recognized effective means to reduce international market barriers and facilitate international trade. They are called the stepping stones and passes for enterprises and products to enter international markets. Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing build a path of mutual trust and a bridge of convenience between China and countries worldwide, jointly promoting global trade safety, balanced, and sustainable growth. Currently, although China has developed into a major country in certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing, it is large but not strong, with few internationally renowned institutions. To accelerate the cultivation of Chinese inspection and testing institution brands and better serve Chinese enterprises and products in competing and cooperating at broader and higher levels globally, the "Action Plan" focuses on promoting inspection and testing "going global" from the following three aspects.

First, strengthen the construction of strategic and applied talent teams in inspection and testing. The talent chain is the foundation of the industrial chain and innovation chain and must continuously optimize and improve talent reserves. We will establish and improve mechanisms for institutions to undertake national-level certification and accreditation international cooperation work, creating conditions for institutional talents to participate in high-level international exchanges and cooperation. Develop international talent training plans and establish a professional education system. Actively cultivate industry and professional leading talents and improve team building. Form an international expert pool and a young professional talent pool for certification and accreditation, accelerating the cultivation of a high-quality professional talent team with an international perspective. At the same time, encourage institutions to increase investment and regularly carry out comprehensive ability training for international business practitioners, focusing on cultivating young business backbones.

Second, actively guide the inspection and testing industry to strengthen brand building. Improve policies and mechanisms for cultivating, developing, incentivizing, and protecting inspection and testing industry brands, creating a good environment for brand growth. Encourage inspection and testing institutions to register trademarks and protect brands legally, continuously enhancing brand awareness, value, and image in the inspection and testing industry. Centered on enhancing credibility, continuously strengthen institutional professional capabilities, focus on supporting and cultivating a batch of inspection and testing institutions with strong technical capabilities and good service reputation to become industry brands, improve brand awareness, reputation, and credibility, and promote the formation of a batch of internationally renowned inspection and testing brands.

Third, leverage the role of international mutual recognition of accreditation. Encourage cooperation between domestic and foreign institutions to jointly carry out business related to foreign market access requirements or international market demands. Promote mutual recognition and acceptance of inspection and testing results between domestic and foreign institutions, promote domestic institutions to join relevant international conformity assessment organizations and industry alliances, and encourage inspection and testing institutions to rely on and accompany domestic related manufacturing enterprises "going overseas," providing inspection and testing technical support for "Made in China" to enter international markets.

Thank you for your question. Promoting high-level openness in certification and accreditation is an important part of expanding institutional openness. Currently, standards and conformity assessment have become the "passport" for international trade, affecting 80% of global trade. Strengthening international cooperation between governments and institutions, promoting international connectivity of certification and accreditation rules, and promoting mutual trust and recognition of conformity assessment results for foreign trade products can effectively avoid repeated inspection and testing, reduce trade costs, improve trade efficiency, and facilitate the free flow of trade products. This is beneficial for Chinese foreign trade enterprises to deeply integrate into the global industrial chain and supply chain and also beneficial for high-quality trade goods from countries worldwide to enter the Chinese market and share the development opportunities of China's super-large market.

The Ministry of Commerce attaches great importance to international cooperation on standards and conformity assessment for foreign trade products and will work with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments to actively carry out three aspects of work. First, strengthen publicity. Through key exhibition platforms such as the Canton Fair, introduce foreign trade enterprises to the conformity assessment measures of various countries and good practices of international cooperation in conformity assessment. Second, carry out cooperation. Through multiple bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, share conformity assessment systems and measures with trade partners' economic and trade and conformity assessment authorities, deepen understanding, and promote the formation of practical cooperation consensus. Third, provide services. In July 2024, we held a special training on the internationalization of standards and conformity assessment for foreign trade products, with nearly 6,000 participants online and offline. Next, we will provide more conformity assessment information services for foreign trade enterprises to improve their work level in conformity assessment and export compliance capabilities.

Thank you for your question. To ensure the "Action Plan" achieves its intended goals, the State Administration for Market Regulation will work with various departments to focus on four aspects for implementation:

First, strengthen overall planning and systematic promotion. Adhere to a systematic concept, properly handle the relationships between deepening reform and expanding opening-up, unified management and joint implementation, international rules and Chinese characteristics, strengthen top-level design and overall planning, formulate short-term, medium-term, and long-term development goals, advance implementation step by step, continuously improve the international cooperation work mechanism for certification and accreditation, improve the international cooperation and mutual recognition system for certification and accreditation, and gradually form a new pattern of all-round cooperation, deep mutual recognition, and high-level openness in certification and accreditation.

Second, emphasize classified policies and precise efforts. Distinguish characteristics of different fields, industries, countries, and objects, implement classified policies according to local conditions, precisely connect with the needs of international cooperation and mutual recognition in conformity assessment, promote the establishment of multi-level cooperation patterns among different countries, regions, institutions, rules, and systems, actively explore different paths and modes of cooperation and mutual recognition, combine "borrowing ships to go overseas" and "building ships to go overseas," promote certification and accreditation mutual recognition from individual products to individual systems, fields, and countries, and comprehensively improve the effectiveness of international cooperation in certification and accreditation.

Third, address weaknesses and bottlenecks, solve problems and blockages. Conduct a comprehensive review of the current status of certification and accreditation development, especially international cooperation, identify bottlenecks and difficult problems restricting the role of certification and accreditation, propose problem-oriented solutions, and currently focus on strengthening research and response to key issues such as insufficient industrial coordination, differences in system comparison, and shortage of international talents, unblock key bottlenecks, promote deep integration of China's certification and accreditation with international industrial chains and supply chains, and develop in sync with international conformity assessment system frameworks.

Fourth, strengthen publicity and guidance to form a joint effort. Effectively interpret and promote the implementation of the "Action Plan," mobilize a wide range of enterprises, practitioners, government departments, industry organizations, and other social parties to participate in the action, enabling the whole society to fully understand the role of certification and accreditation, actively use certification and accreditation tools, and widely accept certification and accreditation results. We will enhance coordination and cooperation with relevant ministries, commissions, and local governments at all levels, promote the integration of certification and accreditation into industry management and regional development, creating a positive development situation where the government sets the stage and the industry performs; promptly summarize and promote excellent cases and successful experiences of various departments and localities in advancing high-level openness of certification and accreditation, and build a demonstration benchmark for high-level openness.