Certification Encyclopedia | Inspection, Testing, Certification, Accreditation... This article finally clarifies it

Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing are fundamental systems for strengthening quality management and improving market efficiency under market economy conditions. They are an important part of market supervision work. Their essential attribute is "transmitting trust, serving development," featuring prominent market-oriented and international characteristics, and are known as the "physical examination certificate" of quality management, the "letter of credit" of the market economy, and the "passport" of international trade.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing work. In February 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping specifically mentioned "promoting the construction of the quality certification system" in his work report on behalf of the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee at the Third Plenary Session. In January 2018, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of the Quality Certification System and Promoting Comprehensive Quality Management," clearly identifying quality certification as an "important tool to promote supply-side structural reform and the reform of streamlining administration and delegating power, improving regulation, and upgrading services," and made comprehensive arrangements for the construction of the quality certification system. The "Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions" adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee clarified that the State Administration for Market Regulation "unifies the management of metrology standards, inspection and testing, certification, and accreditation work," and that the National Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee's responsibilities are incorporated into the State Administration for Market Regulation while retaining its name externally. Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing will play an increasingly important role in strengthening market supervision, optimizing the business environment, and promoting high-quality economic development.

1. Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing are fundamental systems of the market economy

(1) Concept and connotation

1. Concept of National Quality Infrastructure

The concept of National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) was first jointly proposed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005. In 2006, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) formally introduced the concept of National Quality Infrastructure, identifying metrology, standardization, and conformity assessment (mainly certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing) as the three pillars of the national quality foundation. These three form a complete technical chain and are important technical means for governments and enterprises to improve productivity, safeguard life and health, protect consumer rights, protect the environment, maintain safety, and improve quality. They effectively support social welfare, international trade, and sustainable development. To date, the concept of National Quality Infrastructure has been widely accepted internationally.

In 2017, after joint research by 10 relevant international organizations responsible for quality management, industrial development, trade development, and regulatory cooperation, a new definition of quality infrastructure was proposed in the 2018 UNIDO publication "Quality Policy - Technical Guide." The new definition states that quality infrastructure is a system composed of organizations (public and private) and policies, relevant legal and regulatory frameworks, and practices needed to support and enhance the quality, safety, and environmental friendliness of products, services, and processes. It also points out that the quality infrastructure system involves five aspects: consumers, enterprises, quality infrastructure services, public quality infrastructure institutions, and government governance; it particularly emphasizes that the quality infrastructure system relies on metrology, standards, accreditation (separately listed from conformity assessment), conformity assessment, and market supervision.

2. Concept of Conformity Assessment

According to the international standard ISO/IEC 17000 "Conformity Assessment - Vocabulary and General Principles," conformity assessment refers to "the confirmation that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person, or body are fulfilled." The joint publication by ISO and UNIDO, "Conformity Assessment Builds Trust," states that commercial customers, consumers, users, and government officials have expectations regarding the quality, environmental protection, safety, economy, reliability, compatibility, operability, efficiency, and effectiveness of products and services. The process of demonstrating that these characteristics meet standards, regulations, and other normative requirements is called conformity assessment.

Conformity assessment provides the means to determine whether relevant products and services meet these expectations according to applicable standards, regulations, and other norms. It helps ensure that products and services are delivered as required or promised. In other words, conformity assessment builds trust, meets the needs of market economy entities, and promotes the healthy development of the market economy.

— For consumers, they benefit from conformity assessment because it provides a basis for choosing products or services.

— For enterprises, manufacturers and service providers need to determine whether their products and services comply with legal regulations, standards, and specifications and meet customer expectations, thereby avoiding losses in the market due to product failures.

— For regulatory authorities, they also benefit from conformity assessment because it provides means to enforce laws and regulations and achieve public policy objectives.

3. Main Types of Conformity Assessment

Conformity assessment mainly includes four types: testing, inspection, certification, and accreditation According to the international standard ISO/IEC 17000 "Conformity Assessment - Vocabulary and General Principles":

(1) Testing is "an activity to determine one or more characteristics of the conformity assessment object according to procedures."

In simple terms, it is an evaluation activity based on technical standards and specifications using instruments and equipment, with the evaluation result being test data.

(2) Inspection is "an activity to examine product design, products, processes, or installations and determine their conformity with specific requirements, or based on professional judgment, determine conformity with general requirements."

In simple terms, it is an activity relying on human experience and knowledge, using test data or other evaluation information to make a judgment on whether relevant regulations are met.

(3) Certification is "third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems, or persons."

In simple terms, it refers to conformity assessment activities where a third-party certification body certifies that products, services, management systems, or personnel meet relevant standards and technical specifications.

(4 ) Accreditation is "formal recognition by a third party that a conformity assessment body is competent to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks."

In simple terms, it refers to conformity assessment activities where an accreditation body certifies the technical competence of certification bodies, inspection bodies, and laboratories.

From the above definitions, it can be seen that inspection, testing, and certification target products, services, and business organizations (directly market-facing); while accreditation targets institutions engaged in inspection, testing, and certification (indirectly market-facing).

4. Attributes of Conformity Assessment Activities

According to the nature of conformity assessment activities, they can be divided into three categories: first-party, second-party, and third-party.

— First-party. Refers to conformity assessment conducted by suppliers such as manufacturers and service providers, for example, self-inspection and internal audits carried out by production enterprises to meet their own R&D, design, and production needs.

— Second-party. Refers to conformity assessment conducted by demanders such as users, consumers, or purchasers, for example, inspections and acceptance checks performed by buyers on purchased goods.

— Third-party. Refers to conformity assessment conducted by independent third-party organizations separate from suppliers and demanders, such as product certification, management system certification, and various accreditation activities. Certification, accreditation, and inspection and testing activities that provide proof to society all belong to third-party conformity assessment.

Compared with first-party and second-party conformity assessments, third-party conformity assessment is implemented strictly by institutions with independent status and professional capabilities based on nationally or internationally accepted standards and technical specifications. It has higher authority and credibility, thus gaining widespread recognition from all market parties. It not only effectively ensures quality and protects the interests of all parties but also enhances market trust and promotes trade facilitation.

5. Manifestation of conformity assessment results

The results of conformity assessment are usually publicly disclosed to society in written forms such as certificates, reports, and marks. Through this public proof, the problem of information asymmetry is resolved, gaining widespread trust from relevant parties and the public. The main forms include:

— Certification certificates and marks;

— Accreditation certificates and marks;

— Inspection certificates and test reports.

(2) Origin and development.

1. Inspection and testing. Inspection and testing have always accompanied human production, life, and scientific research activities. With the need for quality control in production and trade activities, standardized, procedural, and standardized inspection and testing activities have increasingly developed. By the late Industrial Revolution, inspection and testing technologies and instruments had become highly integrated and complex, gradually giving rise to specialized inspection and testing institutions engaged in testing, calibration, and verification. Inspection and testing itself became a thriving industry. With the development of trade, third-party inspection and testing institutions providing product safety testing and goods identification services to society emerged, such as the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) established in the United States in 1894, playing an important role in trade exchanges and market supervision.

2. Certification. In 1903, the United Kingdom began certifying inspected and qualified rail products based on standards set by the British Standards Institution (BSI), applying the "kite" mark, becoming the world's earliest product certification system. By the 1930s, industrial countries in Europe, America, and Japan had successively established their own certification and accreditation systems, especially implementing mandatory certification systems for specific products with higher quality and safety risks.

With the development of international trade, to avoid duplicate certification and facilitate trade, there was an objective need for countries to adopt unified standards and procedural rules for certification activities, thereby achieving mutual recognition of certification results. By the 1970s, besides implementing certification systems domestically, European and American countries began mutual recognition of certification systems between countries, further developing regional certification systems based on regional standards and regulations. The most typical regional certification system is the CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) electrical product certification in the European Union, followed by the EU CE directives.

With the increasing globalization of international trade, establishing universally accepted certification systems worldwide became an inevitable trend. By the 1980s, countries began implementing international certification systems based on international standards and rules for various products, such as the electrical product safety certification system (IECEE) established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Subsequently, certification expanded from product certification to management systems, personnel certification, and other fields, such as the ISO 9001 international quality management system promoted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and related certification activities.

3. Accreditation. With the development of conformity assessment activities such as inspection, testing, and certification, various conformity assessment bodies engaged in inspection, testing, and certification activities emerged, with varying quality, making it difficult for users to choose. Some institutions even harmed the interests of relevant parties, prompting calls for government regulation of certification and inspection bodies. To ensure the authority and impartiality of certification and inspection results, accreditation activities emerged. In 1947, the first national accreditation body, Australia's NATA, was established, initially accrediting laboratories. By the 1980s, industrialized countries successively established their own accreditation bodies. After the 1990s, some emerging countries also established accreditation bodies.

With the origin and development of certification systems, they gradually evolved from product certification to management system certification, service certification, personnel certification, and other types; accreditation systems gradually evolved from laboratory accreditation to accreditation of certification bodies, inspection bodies, and other types.

(3) Functions and roles.

Certification, accreditation, and inspection and testing are fundamental systems in a market economy, summarized as "one essential attribute, two typical characteristics, three basic functions, and four prominent roles."

— "One essential attribute": conveying trust, serving development.

The market economy is essentially a credit economy; all market transactions are mutual choices based on trust among market participants. With increasing social division of labor and complexity of quality and safety issues, objective and impartial evaluation and verification of market transaction subjects (products, services, or organizations) by professionally capable third parties have become necessary links in market economic activities. Obtaining third-party certification and accreditation can significantly enhance trust among market parties, thereby solving information asymmetry problems and effectively reducing market transaction risks. Since the birth of certification and accreditation systems, they have been rapidly and widely applied in domestic and international economic and trade activities, conveying trust to consumers, enterprises, governments, society, and the world. As the market system and market economy system continue to improve, the characteristic of certification and accreditation to "convey trust and serve development" will become increasingly evident.

— Two typical characteristics: market orientation and internationalization.

First, the market-oriented characteristic. Certification and accreditation originate from the market, serve the market, and develop in the market. They are widely present in market transactions of products and services, capable of transmitting authoritative and reliable information in the market, establishing market trust mechanisms, and guiding market selection. Market participants using certification and accreditation methods can achieve mutual trust and recognition, break market and industry barriers, promote trade facilitation, and reduce institutional transaction costs; market regulatory authorities using certification and accreditation methods can strengthen quality and safety supervision, optimize market access and supervision during and after transactions, regulate market order, and reduce regulatory costs.

Secondly, the internationalization feature. Certification and accreditation are internationally accepted trade rules under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Internationally, certification and accreditation are widely regarded as means to regulate markets and facilitate trade, establishing unified standards, procedures, and systems. This is mainly reflected in: first, the establishment of international cooperation organizations in many fields, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). Their purpose is to establish internationally unified standards and certification and accreditation systems to achieve "one-time inspection, one-time testing, one-time certification, one-time accreditation, global acceptance." Second, comprehensive certification and accreditation standards and guidelines have been established internationally and issued by international organizations such as ISO and IEC. Currently, 36 international standards for conformity assessment have been published and are widely adopted worldwide. Meanwhile, the WTO's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO/TBT) regulates national standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures, establishing reasonable objectives, minimizing trade impact, transparency, national treatment, international standards, and mutual recognition principles to reduce trade impact as much as possible. Third, certification and accreditation methods are widely applied internationally. On one hand, they serve as market access measures to ensure products and services comply with regulatory standards, such as the EU CE Directive, Japan's PSE certification, and China's CCC certification mandatory systems; some international market procurement systems like the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) also use certification and accreditation as procurement access conditions or evaluation criteria. On the other hand, as trade facilitation measures, bilateral and multilateral mutual recognition avoids repeated testing and certification. For example, the IEC's electronic and electrical product testing and certification system (IECEE), electronic component quality conformity assessment system (IECQ), and explosion-proof electrical product certification system (IECEX) mutual recognition arrangements cover over 90% of the global economy, greatly facilitating global trade.

—Three basic functions: quality management "health certificate", market economy "letter of credit", international trade "passport".

Certification and accreditation, as the name implies, is the conformity assessment of products, services, and their enterprises and organizations, issuing public proof to society to meet the market entities' demands for various quality characteristics. In the context of government departments reducing entry restrictions through "certificates", the function of certificates that enhance mutual trust and convenience among market entities becomes increasingly indispensable.

First is the "health certificate" for quality management. Certification and accreditation is a process based on standards, regulations, and other requirements, using various quality management methods to diagnose and improve whether an enterprise's production and operation activities comply with standards and norms. It is an effective tool to strengthen total quality management. Through certification and accreditation activities, enterprises can identify key quality control points and risk factors, continuously improve quality management, and steadily enhance product and service quality. Enterprises obtaining certification must undergo multiple evaluation stages such as internal audits, management reviews, factory inspections, metrological calibration, and product type testing. After certification, regular post-certification supervision is required, meaning a full "health check" that continuously ensures the effective operation of the management system, thereby effectively strengthening quality management.

Second is the "letter of credit" for the market economy. The essence of a market economy is a credit economy. Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing convey authoritative and reliable information in the market, helping to establish market trust mechanisms, improve market operation efficiency, and guide market selection through survival of the fittest. Obtaining third-party authoritative certification proves that an enterprise or organization has the qualification and capability to participate in specific market economic activities and that its goods or services meet requirements as a credit carrier. For example, ISO9001 quality management system certification is a basic condition often set for bidding enterprises in domestic and international bidding and government procurement. Specific requirements involving environment and information security also require ISO14001 environmental management system certification and ISO27001 information security management system certification as qualification conditions; energy-saving product government procurement and the national "Golden Sun" project use energy-saving product certification and new energy certification as access conditions. It can be said that certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing provide market entities with credit proof, solving the problem of information asymmetry and playing an irreplaceable role in transmitting trust in market economic activities.

Third is the "passport" for international trade. Due to the internationalized nature of certification and accreditation, all countries advocate "one-time inspection and testing, one-time certification and accreditation, and international mutual recognition," which helps enterprises and products smoothly enter international markets. It plays an important role in coordinating international market access and promoting trade facilitation within the global trade system. It is an institutional arrangement that promotes mutual market opening in multilateral and bilateral trade systems. In the multilateral field, certification and accreditation are both international trade rules under the WTO framework that promote goods trade and access conditions for some global procurement systems such as food safety initiatives and telecommunications unions. In the bilateral field, certification and accreditation are facilitation tools to eliminate trade barriers under free trade agreement (FTA) frameworks and important topics in trade negotiations between governments regarding market access and trade balance. In many international trade activities, certification certificates or test reports issued by internationally recognized institutions are prerequisites for trade procurement and essential bases for trade settlement. Moreover, many market access negotiations between countries include certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing as important content written into trade agreements.

—Four prominent roles: improving market supply, serving market supervision, optimizing market environment, promoting market opening.

First, guiding quality improvement and upgrading for market entities to increase effective market supply. Currently, certification and accreditation systems have been comprehensively implemented across all national economic sectors and social fields, forming various types covering products, services, management systems, personnel, etc., meeting the diverse needs of market entities and regulatory departments. Through the transmission and feedback effect of certification and accreditation, consumption and procurement are guided, forming an effective market selection mechanism that forces production enterprises to improve management levels and product and service quality, increasing effective market supply. In recent years, the Certification and Accreditation Administration has, according to supply-side structural reform requirements, leveraged certification and accreditation to both ensure the "safety baseline" and raise the "quality high line." It has carried out quality management system upgrade actions in certified enterprises and promoted high-end quality certification in food, consumer goods, and service fields, stimulating market entities' enthusiasm for independently improving quality.

Second, supporting administrative supervision for government departments to improve market supervision effectiveness. Internationally, the market is generally divided into the pre-market (before sales) and post-market (after sales) stages. Whether in pre-market access or post-market in-process and post-event supervision, certification and accreditation can promote government departments to transform functions by implementing indirect management through third parties, reducing direct market intervention. In the pre-market access stage, government departments implement access management in areas involving personal health and safety and social public safety through mandatory certification and binding capability requirements. In the post-market supervision stage, government departments leverage the professional advantages of third-party institutions in in-process and post-event supervision, using third-party certification results as the basis for supervision to ensure scientific and fair regulation. With full use of certification and accreditation, regulatory departments do not need to focus mainly on comprehensively supervising hundreds of millions of micro enterprises and products but should focus on supervising a limited number of certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing institutions, using these institutions to transmit regulatory requirements to enterprises, thus achieving a "small effort with great effect" outcome.

Third, promote integrity construction facing all sectors of society to create a good market environment. Government departments can use the certification information of enterprises and their products and services as an important basis for integrity evaluation and credit management, improve the market trust mechanism, and optimize the market access environment, competition environment, and consumption environment. In terms of optimizing the market access environment, certification and accreditation methods ensure that enterprises and their products and services entering the market meet relevant standards and legal requirements, playing a role in source control and market purification; in terms of optimizing the market competition environment, certification and accreditation provide independent, fair, professional, and credible evaluation information to the market, avoiding resource misallocation caused by information asymmetry, forming a fair and transparent competitive environment, regulating market order, and guiding market selection; in terms of optimizing the market consumption environment, the most direct function of certification and accreditation is to guide consumption, help consumers identify quality, avoid harm from unqualified products, and guide enterprises to operate with integrity and improve products and services, protecting consumer rights and improving consumption quality.

Fourth, promote rule alignment facing the international market and enhance market openness. The WTO's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade regards conformity assessment as a technical trade measure jointly used by all members, requiring that conformity assessment measures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade and encouraging the adoption of internationally accepted mutual recognition procedures. When China joined the WTO, it committed to a unified market conformity assessment procedure and national treatment for domestic and foreign enterprises and products. Using internationally accepted mutual recognition certification and accreditation methods can avoid inconsistencies and duplication in domestic and foreign regulations, improve market supervision efficiency and transparency, help create an international business environment, and facilitate China's economic "going out" and "bringing in." With the acceleration of the "Belt and Road" and free trade zone construction, the role of certification and accreditation has become more prominent. China's "Vision and Actions on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road" regards certification and accreditation as an important aspect of promoting smooth trade and rule connectivity. In recent years, free trade agreements with ASEAN, New Zealand, South Korea, and others have included mutual recognition arrangements for certification and accreditation.

II. Overview of the Development of Certification, Accreditation, Inspection, and Testing in China

(1) Development History.  

Certification and accreditation are "imported goods" in China. China's certification and accreditation system began in the early stages of reform and opening up in the 1970s and 1980s and developed alongside the market economy. It can be roughly divided into three stages:

1. Pilot and Initial Stage of Certification and Accreditation Work (1978–1991)

—Certification Field. In 1978, China rejoined the International Organization for Standardization and began to understand that certification is an effective means of evaluating, supervising, and managing product quality. In 1981, China joined the International Electronic Component Certification Organization and established its first product certification body—the China Electronic Component Certification Committee, marking the official start of learning from foreign certification systems.

From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, China successively established a series of product certification systems for household appliances, electronic entertainment equipment, medical devices, automobiles, food, fire protection products, and others.

—Accreditation Field. In 1980, the former State Bureau of Standards and the former State Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bureau jointly sent personnel to participate in the International Laboratory Accreditation Conference (ILAC), marking the beginning of international accreditation activities in China. In 1985, the laboratory accreditation system began to be implemented.

2. Comprehensive Implementation Stage of Certification and Accreditation Work (1991–2001)

In May 1991, the State Council issued Order No. 83, the "Regulations on Product Quality Certification of the People's Republic of China," marking the transition of China's quality certification work from pilot to comprehensive standardized implementation.

—Certification Field. During this stage, in addition to fully establishing and implementing product certification, important progress was made in management system certification, with the successive establishment of ISO9001 quality management system, ISO14001 environmental management system, OHSAS18001 occupational health and safety management system, and other certification systems.

During this period, the most influential certification systems were the "Great Wall Mark" certification system by the former State Administration of Technical Supervision (Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau) focusing on domestic product safety access, and the "CCIB Mark" certification system by the former State Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bureau (Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau) focusing on imported product safety access.

—Accreditation Field. The former State Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau successively established the China National Accreditation Committee for Quality Management System Certification Bodies (CNACR), China Registered Certification Body Auditor Committee (CRBA), China National Accreditation Committee for Laboratories (CNACL), and China National Accreditation Committee for Product Certification Bodies (CNACP) to carry out domestic market accreditation work; the former State Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bureau (Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau) successively established the China National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies for Import and Export Enterprises (CNAB) and China National Accreditation Committee for Import and Export Laboratories (CCIBLAC) to carry out accreditation work in the import and export field.

3. Stage of Establishing and Implementing a Unified Certification and Accreditation System (2001 to Present)

After introducing the certification and accreditation system internationally, under the then planned economy system, different departments implemented it separately in their respective industry fields, objectively causing issues such as fragmented management, multiple authorities, and duplicate certifications. The most prominent problem was the implementation of two different certification systems for domestic and imported products due to the division of domestic and foreign trade markets, which did not comply with the internationally accepted national treatment principle. This issue became a focus during WTO accession negotiations. In China's WTO accession protocol, the government committed to establishing a unified product certification system, with as many as 23 clauses related to certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing. In August 2001, to adapt to WTO accession and improve the socialist market economy system, the Party Central Committee and the State Council decided to merge the former State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the former Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau to form the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and established the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, marking the establishment of a unified certification and accreditation management system in China.

—Unified Management Department: The Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, as the certification and accreditation supervision and management department under the State Council, is responsible for unified management, supervision, and comprehensive coordination of certification and accreditation work nationwide.

—Unified Regulations: In November 2003, the State Council promulgated and implemented the "Regulations on Certification and Accreditation," establishing a certification and accreditation management system that adapts to internationally accepted rules and fits China's actual conditions.

—Unified Certification System: Centered on the compulsory product certification system, a nationally unified certification system was established. In May 2002, the country officially implemented a new compulsory product certification system, whose core is the realization of "four unifications" for domestic and imported products (i.e., unified product catalog, unified applicable national standards, technical rules and implementation procedures, unified marks, and unified charging standards), replacing the "CCIB Mark" and "Great Wall Mark" certifications.

—Unified Accreditation System: In August 2002, based on the original import-export and domestic two accreditation systems, a centralized unified accreditation system was established; in March 2006, to meet the requirements and changes of international accreditation organizations, the China National Accreditation Committee for Certification Bodies and the China National Accreditation Committee for Laboratories merged to form the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), serving as the sole national accreditation body.

In March 2018, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China's "Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions," the State Administration for Market Regulation was established, responsible for comprehensive market supervision and management, and unified management of inspection and testing, certification, and accreditation work. The responsibilities of the National Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee were incorporated into the State Administration for Market Regulation, while retaining its name externally. This fully reflects the high importance the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach to certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing work, indicating that this work has entered a new era.

(2) Work System

Since its establishment, the Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee has built a certification and accreditation system fully aligned with international practices and China's development realities, comprehensively serving national reform, opening-up, and economic and social development, playing a notably positive role.

1. Legal System. A legal and regulatory system centered on the "Certification and Accreditation Regulations" has been established, currently including 19 laws, 17 administrative regulations, and 14 rules explicitly containing certification and accreditation provisions.

2. Institutional System. Based on international rules and national conditions, a system combining mandatory and voluntary certification, national accreditation, qualification accreditation for inspection and testing institutions, and certification personnel registration has been established, comprehensively covering certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing activities. Currently, mandatory product certification covers 19 major categories and 142 products; voluntary certification includes 3 major categories—products, services, and management systems—with 49 subcategories; accreditation includes 12 basic accreditation systems and 27 special accreditation systems.

3. Organizational System. Following the principle of "unified management, joint implementation," an organizational system has been established with the State Administration for Market Regulation (Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee) as the competent authority, an inter-ministerial joint conference composed of relevant ministries and units as the coordination body, certification supervision departments nationwide as law enforcement and supervision entities, and certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing institutions as implementing bodies.

4. Supervision System. A five-in-one supervision system of "legal norms, administrative supervision, accreditation constraints, industry self-discipline, and social supervision" has been established, implementing access management and mid- and post-event supervision for certification bodies, accreditation bodies, and inspection and testing institutions.

5. Standards System. All 36 international standards for conformity assessment have been equivalently converted into national standards; 94 national standards and 136 industry standards have been issued, unifying and standardizing evaluation bases.

6. International Cooperation and Mutual Recognition System. China has joined 21 international certification and accreditation organizations, signed 13 multilateral mutual recognition agreements and 121 bilateral cooperation and mutual recognition arrangements. Additionally, China has established bilateral cooperation relationships with more than 30 countries and regions along the "Belt and Road," providing facilitation arrangements to support the "Belt and Road" initiative.

(3) Development Data.  

1. Number of Certificates

By the end of 2018, a total of 1.937 million valid certification certificates of various types had been issued, including 643,000 mandatory product certifications and 1.294 million voluntary certification certificates. The total number of certificates increased by 10.5% compared to the end of 2017.

2. Number of Enterprises

(1) Certified organizations: more than 625,000; (2) Enterprises involved in mandatory product certification with valid certificates: 73,569 (including 5,352 foreign enterprises and 68,217 domestic enterprises).

3. Number of Institutions

There are 481 certification bodies and more than 39,000 inspection and testing institutions; 171 certification bodies and 10,439 inspection and testing institutions have obtained accreditation qualifications.

China has ranked first in the world for many years in the cumulative number of issued certification, accreditation, and inspection and testing certificates and certified organizations. The output value of inspection, testing, and certification services exceeds 270 billion yuan, making it the fastest-growing and most promising inspection, testing, and certification market globally.

(4) Work Achievements.

Certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing play an increasingly significant role in improving China's socialist market economy system, strengthening market supervision, and promoting foreign trade openness. In summary, the main aspects are:

1. Ensuring Quality and Safety. Effectively playing the "bottom line" role of mandatory certification in market access, effectively ensuring product quality and safety, and protecting consumer interests. Since the implementation of mandatory product certification (CCC certification) in China, the spot check pass rate for lighting products has increased from 32% to 94%, and the spot check pass rate for child safety seats in automobiles has increased from less than 10% to 97%.

2. Improving Supply Quality. Effectively playing the "raising the bar" role of voluntary certification in promoting quality improvement, carrying out quality management system upgrades in millions of enterprises, promoting high-end quality certification in consumer goods such as smart toilet seats, rice cookers, smart home appliances, and in service fields such as healthcare, elderly care, and finance; promoting organic, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), and GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification in the food and agricultural products industry; building inspection, testing, and certification systems in strategic emerging industries such as robotics and Beidou navigation; using certification and accreditation means to cultivate regional quality brands such as "Made in Zhejiang," "Shenzhen Standards," and "Shanghai Quality," driving industrial and consumption quality upgrades. China's number of management system certification certificates per unit GDP is 69.85 per 1 billion USD, with a 98% effective rate of certified enterprise quality management systems, reaching an international advanced level.

3. Promoting Green Development. Vigorously promoting energy-saving, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly certification and accreditation systems, conducting third-party verification and certification of greenhouse gas emissions, and adopting multiple measures to guide green production and green consumption. In November 2016, the State Council issued Document No. 86 [2016], deciding to integrate currently separately established environmental protection, energy saving, water saving, recycling, low carbon, renewable, organic, and other product certifications into a unified green product standard, certification, and labeling system to promote green industry development. Calculations based on certified energy-saving and water-saving products show that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, 220 million tons of standard coal were saved, and 39 billion tons of water were saved. Actively exploring new mechanisms where organic certification supports targeted poverty alleviation and ecological civilization construction; among 592 national key poverty alleviation counties, 446 have enterprises with organic product certification; among 129 national organic product certification demonstration zones, 45 are from poor counties.

4. Promoting Foreign Trade. The international mutual recognition scope of China's certification, accreditation, inspection, and testing covers regions accounting for more than 90% of the global economic total, providing facilitation services of "one test, one certification, global acceptance" for a large number of Chinese products and services exports. For example, in electronics, more than 60,000 Chinese enterprises obtain IEC electrical product safety certification test certificates (IECEE-CB) annually, reducing export costs by more than one-third on average. In food, the "Global Food Safety Initiative" (GFSI) covers 65% of global food trade; after China joined this mutual recognition system, more than 4,000 food enterprises benefit annually.

5. Serving Government Function Transformation. With the deepening of the "delegation, regulation, and service" reform, more and more government departments adopt certification and accreditation methods to replace original approval and licensing methods, changing direct management to indirect management, promoting the transformation of government functions and management methods. In recent years, the Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee, together with industry authorities, has established certification and accreditation systems for railways, fire protection, security, judicial appraisal, intellectual property protection, effectively improving industry management levels; additionally, local governments such as Haidian District in Beijing, Dalian City in Liaoning Province, and Jiangmen City in Guangdong Province have obtained ISO9001 quality management system certification, with more than 2,000 certified government departments significantly improving management and service efficiency.

(5) Strong Nation Indicators.  

To accurately assess China's development status in international certification and accreditation, and to scientifically guide the construction of a strong certification and accreditation nation, the National Certification and Accreditation Administration has been organizing research on evaluation indicators for a strong certification and accreditation nation since 2016, establishing a relatively scientific, systematic, and complete indicator system.

1. Indicator System.

The indicator system includes one primary indicator: the Strong Certification and Accreditation Nation Index; six secondary indicators: institutional construction, service development, industrial strength, innovation-driven, international influence, and basic capabilities; and sixteen tertiary indicators: laws and regulations, institutional supply, trade promotion, security assurance, social governance, industrial scale, quality and efficiency, service output, product innovation, technological innovation, management innovation, professional leadership, institutional appointments, international mutual recognition, institutional construction, and talent cultivation.

2. Index Calculation.

After calculation, among the 12 indicators available for international comparison, China is relatively leading in four indicators: trade promotion, social governance, industrial scale, and institutional appointments; at a medium level in six indicators: laws and regulations, security assurance, professional leadership, service output, international mutual recognition, and talent cultivation; and relatively lagging in two indicators: quality and efficiency, and technological innovation.

Overall, China has entered the forefront of the second tier in international certification and accreditation and is accelerating its progress toward becoming a strong certification and accreditation nation.