China Announces Five Measures to Guide Consumption Upgrade

The Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) put forward five measures ahead of the World Consumer Rights Day on 15 March. The measures seek to boost consumer confidence and guide consumption upgrade.

These five measures cover the following aspects:

1. Build a public service platform to promote "same production line, same standard, same quality" for food sold in domestic and overseas markets. Efforts will be made to fully leverage the role of certification and record filing in ensuring food quality and safety, encourage export food enterprises to put onto the domestic market food that meets international quality standards, promote the "same production line, same standard, same quality" model for food sold in domestic and overseas markets, support the building of a public service platform for this model, narrow the "quality gaps" resulting from different standards for domestic and overseas markets, satisfy the domestic demand for high-end consumption, and promote the quality upgrade of relevant industries.

2. Promote e-commerce certification. Efforts will be made to support the quality upgrade of e-commerce, draw up "good e-commerce practices" and carry out third-party certification, encourage e-commerce platforms and their online sellers (online shops) to voluntarily apply for certification, and help e-commerce enterprises improve their quality management and service.

3. Launch a registration "fast lane" for import food traded via cross-border e-commerce platforms. A new model of import food registration will be explored and promoted in pilot cities for cross-border e-commerce. Efforts will also be made to strengthen cooperation in cross-border supervision with the government agencies in places of origin abroad, establish a mechanism for information sharing, mutual recognition of supervision and mutual assistance in law enforcement, improve the efficiency of on-going and ex post supervision in import registration, and promote fast import and export in cross-border e-commerce with emphasis on the quality of import and export.

4. Establish a unified green product certification system. Product certification for energy-saving, water-saving, eco-friendly, low-carbon and organic products will be combined under the green product certification category to resolve the existing problems of green certification resulting from the wide connotation of the "green concept", the complicated certification standards and the numerous certification categories, which all make it difficult for consumers to recognise green products. Efforts will be made to make the certification of green products more scientific and authoritative and guide green consumption.

5. Open the certification and accreditation public information sharing platform. The "Cloud Bridge" information sharing platform for certification and accreditation established by CNCA will be fully opened to members of the public. The platform will provide information on certified products and enterprises, the integrity status of the certified enterprises, the findings of the monitoring and random checking of certified products, and the competence of the examination, testing and certification institutions.

According to CNCA, these five measures seek to give full leverage to the quality and technical basis and trust delegation mechanism of certification and accreditation, promote the effective connection and qualitative upgrade of supply and demand, guide "quality consumption, personalised consumption, cross-border consumption, green consumption and transparent consumption", improve the quality of supply, boost consumer confidence, and promote consumption upgrade.