Why have national standards been released intensively this year?

Masks, disinfectants, new energy vehicles, high-definition TVs, civil aircraft... Observant people will notice that a batch of important national standards have been successively released this year, impacting production and daily life.

According to statistics, in the first seven months, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration) has issued more than ten batches of national standards, totaling over 1,000 items, covering fields such as health protection, health and safety, food, consumer goods, information technology, transportation, industrial manufacturing, and agriculture and rural areas.

Why are national standards being released so frequently? What roles will they play?

Clothing, food, housing, and transportation: standards escort consumption upgrades.

More than 1,000 national standards directly serve the lives of urban and rural residents.

Clothing

During the epidemic prevention period, masks are a household essential. In May this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration) issued the "Technical Specification for Children's Masks" as a recommended national standard. This standard specifies the basic requirements, appearance quality, and test methods for masks suitable for children aged 6 to 14, and proposes 19 main performance indicators.

Food

In April this year, the "General Technical Requirements for Food Traceability QR Codes" was released to regulate the application and development of QR code technology in food traceability, better enabling its role of "traceable source and destination." Recently, the Food Safety National Standard Review Committee also approved the Food Cold Chain Production and Operation Hygiene Specification, which sets mandatory food safety requirements for all stages of food cold chain production, processing, transportation, and sales. This specification will soon be issued and implemented as a national food safety standard.

Housing

To promote the improvement of rural living environments, in July this year, three recommended national standards were introduced: "Technical Specification for Construction of Rural Three-Compartment Household Toilets," "Operation and Maintenance Specification for Rural Three-Compartment Household Toilets," and "Technical Specification for Construction of Rural Centralized Sewerage Collection Household Toilets." These standards provide detailed regulations on the design, installation and construction, maintenance, emergency handling, and management of rural three-compartment household toilets.

Transportation

With the acceleration of the domestic new energy vehicle industrialization process, the demand for charging infrastructure for new energy vehicles, mainly electric vehicles, is increasingly urgent. Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration) released a series of national standards for "Electric Vehicle Wireless Charging Systems," which clearly specify system performance, safety, and functional requirements and testing methods. These standards support the development, testing, and application of wireless charging system products in the private sector. A relevant official from the administration stated that the introduction of these standards fills the gap in China's national standards for electric vehicle wireless charging technology and is a milestone.

Examining hundreds of new standards closely related to residents' lives, they can generally be divided into two categories. One category serves some urgent and sudden demands this year, such as mask standards. The other category aligns with the ongoing wave of consumption upgrades in recent years.

Liu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Economic Research Department at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said in an interview that to meet the people's growing needs for a better life, national standards need to be set or revised to correspond with consumption upgrades.

The industry's baton: standards lead industrial transformation.

Since the beginning of this year, hundreds of national standards have been introduced in fields such as industrial manufacturing, services, transportation, and information technology, playing an important guiding and leading role in industry development.

With the large-scale rollout of 5G commercial use, high-definition TVs and live video are beginning to upgrade to the 5G+8K era. To promote the rapid development of the 5G media industry and ultra-high-definition industry, the newly revised mandatory national standard "Energy Efficiency Limits and Energy Efficiency Grades for Flat Panel TVs and Set-Top Boxes" raised the energy efficiency evaluation indicators and grade requirements for 4K and below flat panel TVs and set-top boxes, and proposed energy efficiency grade requirements for 8K TVs, providing a basis for market access of ultra-high-definition TVs. A relevant official from the State Administration for Market Regulation said that the release and implementation of the standards will significantly improve the energy efficiency level of domestic flat panel TV products and promote the rapid development of the ultra-high-definition display industry.

Whether a senior care institution is reliable can first be judged by whether it meets national standards. When the mandatory national standard "Basic Safety Specifications for Senior Care Institution Services" was issued earlier this year, it immediately attracted attention. Gao Xiaobing, Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs, introduced that this mandatory national standard clearly stipulates that senior care institutions must comply with mandatory provisions and requirements in fire safety, health and hygiene, environmental protection, food and drugs, construction, and facilities and equipment standards. It also puts forward specific requirements for basic work such as training of senior care workers and establishing day and night patrol and shift handover systems.

In addition, the series of mandatory national standards for electric vehicle safety, green packaging standards for express delivery, and the national standard "Green Shopping Malls"... standards applicable to various industries have accelerated industrial transformation and upgrading.

"At this critical period of economic transformation, it is necessary to promote and lead through standards around the new development concept to guide high-quality industry development, and better adapt to the needs of cultivating a strong domestic demand market," said Liu Xiangdong.

Still with gaps and aging, standards will continue to be updated.

The more than 1,000 standards issued this year are only a part of China's rapidly developing and improving standard system.

Currently, China has 37,764 active national standards covering all sectors of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries and social undertakings, with the consistency level of some fields' standards with international standards reaching over 80%.

It is worth mentioning that, national standards have also played an indispensable role in supporting epidemic prevention and control and resumption of work and production. Can imported protective materials with different standards be used safely? What standards should enterprises adopt when switching production to protective products? These issues closely related to people have quickly become social focus this year.

"Technology is a weapon to overcome the epidemic. " said a relevant official from the State Administration for Market Regulation, " standards, as a summary of science, technology, and practical experience, can provide professional support for more targeted epidemic prevention and control. " The official introduced that since the outbreak, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration) has approved and issued nine national standards related to epidemic prevention and control, including "Good Manufacturing Practice for Disinfectants," "Evaluation Method for Spray Disinfection Effect," and "Textile Isolation Medical Nonwoven Fabrics." It has completed the project approval and evaluation of national standards such as "Management Specification for Five-Color Epidemic Risk Assessment Maps" and "Community Work Guide for Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia," accelerated the development of testing method standards and standard samples for epidemic prevention and control, effectively improving the quality of protective products and epidemic prevention capabilities. Currently, relevant standardization technical organizations and social groups have issued more than 130 group standards related to epidemic prevention and control.

Chinese standards are also increasingly influential internationally. China's experience and recommendations are highly forward-looking and practical, receiving high praise from the ISO Secretary-General, ISO Policy Vice-Chair, and other working group members, and have been adopted in ISO work measures.

In the future, important national standards will continue to be introduced.

It is reported that the issues of missing standards and outdated standards still exist. With the development of new technologies such as information technology and biotechnology, as well as the upgrading of concepts like health and ecology, people's production and lifestyle will continue to change, new demands will keep growing, and standards will be correspondingly improved.

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Source: People's Daily Online - People's Daily Overseas Edition