The "2019 Certification Bodies Development Report" Helps You Find the Right Development Coordinates

Since the China Certification and Accreditation Association (CCAA) released the "Development Report on Certification Bodies" in 2017, through data collection, analysis, and organization, we have gained a clearer, more accurate, and comprehensive understanding of the industry's current status. This has played a positive role in promoting precise supervision, operational optimization, and the future development direction of the industry. Recently, CCAA fully released the "2019 Development Report on Certification Bodies," which objectively reflects the overall development status of certification bodies in China. It helps certification bodies find their coordinates and positions through comparative analysis, discover their strengths and advantages, recognize their shortcomings and areas for improvement, and promote certification bodies to correctly assess their own development, self-adjust and improve during development, and then take targeted measures for enhancement.

By the end of 2019, the total number of certification bodies in China was 596, an increase of 19.2% compared to the previous year (481). Certification bodies issued 2.227 million valid certification certificates, a 15% increase from the previous year, involving 750,000 certified organizations. From the certificate data, China's certification market is still in a stage of rapid growth. Among them, 47 certification bodies that issued more than 10,000 certificates issued a total of 1,946,423 certificates, accounting for 74.9% of the total certificates issued, indicating a high market concentration. A group of certification bodies with strong technical capabilities are more recognized by the market, and the overall certification market in China is good and orderly. At the same time, the phenomenon of high market concentration and "small, scattered, and weak" will exist for a period. Through market competition, this group of "small, scattered, and weak" will form a batch of "small but specialized" certification bodies, playing a positive role in the certification market.

Data shows that the overall industry status is still "small at both ends, large in the middle." Comprehensive, specialized, and industry-dependent institutions have strong service capabilities, certification rules and technical R&D close to the market, diversified certification supply, and strong bargaining power. In the market selection process, brand parity selection advantages are obvious. Certification bodies that gather high-quality enterprises from various industries also promote their own follow-up services and innovation work; while those follower institutions have relatively low profits, and due to pursuing certificate quantity growth and cost control, they limit quality improvement and R&D innovation. However, as these institutions grow, they will gradually develop into a virtuous cycle.

Innovation evaluation indicators show that certification bodies have improved in knowledge innovation and knowledge accumulation, with enhancements in scientific research projects, standard formulation, patent authorization, and published papers. The number of government department projects undertaken or participated in has increased significantly, and the number of high-tech enterprise certification bodies has greatly increased, but the overall industry innovation still has much room for improvement.

Overall, China's certification work continues to be in a stage of rapid development. The demand for certification driven by social and economic development is continuous, stable, and strong, and the long-term development trend of certification work is positive. At the same time, certification work urgently needs to promote supply-side reform, provide diversified certification services to society, and mobilize social forces to jointly enrich certification supply. The certification industry should focus on both technology and policy during the reform process, creating a favorable situation for the sustainable development of certification work through reform.