World Standards Day 2022 | Study of the "Administrative Measures for Standardization in the Business Sector"

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 To strengthen standardization work in the business field, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the "Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China" and other relevant laws and regulations.

Article 2 The business field standards referred to in these Measures include national standards in the business field and industry standards in the business field.

Article 3 The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for the national standardization management work in the business field and performs the following duties:

(1) Formulate and compile systems and plans for national standardization work in the business field;

(2) Legally responsible for the formulation, organization, and implementation of business field standards, as well as supervision of the formulation and implementation of business field standards;

(3) Guide local standardization work in the business field;

(4) Legally establish and manage professional standardization technical committees in the business field (hereinafter referred to as technical committees);

(5) Coordinate international standardization activities in the business field;

(6) Responsible for other major matters related to standardization work in the business field.

The commerce administrative departments of local people's governments at or above the prefecture-level, under the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce, perform the following duties:

(1) Implement relevant provisions on standardization in the business field, formulate and organize the implementation of standardization work plans in the business field within their administrative regions;

(2) Organize and guide the implementation and promotion of business field standards within their administrative regions;

(3) Assist in supervising and inspecting the drafting work of business field standards undertaken by units within their administrative regions;

(4) Handle other standardization work in the business field entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 4 Technical committees include national professional standardization technical committees in the business field and industry standardization technical committees (working groups) in the business field, performing the following duties:

(1) Propose policies and measures for standardization work in their professional fields;

(2) Compile the standard system for their professional fields;

(3) Propose suggestions for standard formulation and revision projects;

(4) Carry out specific work related to standard drafting, technical review, reexamination, and translation and review of foreign language versions of standards;

(5) Undertake consultation and response work on specific technical content related to industry standards in their professional fields.

The establishment, re-election, adjustment, and supervision and management of national professional standardization technical committees in the business field shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions for national professional standardization technical committees.

The specific rules for the establishment, re-election, adjustment, and supervision and management of industry standardization technical committees (working groups) in the business field shall be separately formulated by the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 5 The Ministry of Commerce promotes participation in international standardization activities in the business field, carries out standardization cooperation and exchanges with foreign countries, promotes the internationalization of Chinese standards, adopts international standards according to national conditions, promotes recognition and adoption between business field standards and foreign standards, and organizes the translation of foreign language versions of business field standards.

Article 6 The Ministry of Commerce shall commend and reward units and individuals who have made outstanding achievements in standardization work in the business field in accordance with relevant national regulations.

Chapter 2 Standard Formulation

Article 7 The formulation of national standards in the business field shall be carried out in accordance with national standard provisions.

The formulation of industry standards in the business field shall be carried out in accordance with these Measures.

Article 8 Technical committees, industry associations, chambers of commerce, and other organizations and units (hereinafter referred to as applicant units) may submit applications for the establishment of business field industry standards to the Ministry of Commerce.

When applicant units submit an application for establishment, they shall submit a project proposal and a draft standard. The project proposal shall include the following content:

(1) The necessity and feasibility of formulating the industry standard;

(2) Main technical requirements;

(3) Relevant domestic and foreign standards;

(4) Adoption of international standards;

(5) Other matters that should be explained.

Article 9 The Ministry of Commerce shall evaluate the application for establishment. The evaluation content includes:

(1) The status of the relevant field's standard system;

(2) The technical level of the standard, industrialization status, and expected effects;

(3) Coordination with relevant laws, regulations, and standards;

(4) Comparative analysis of relevant international and foreign standards;

(5) Other content that needs to be evaluated.

Article 10: The Ministry of Commerce shall issue the project plan for projects approved after evaluation. For projects not approved, the reasons shall be explained to the applicant unit.

If necessary, the Ministry of Commerce may directly issue the project plan.

Article 11: After the project plan is issued, the relevant technical committee shall form a drafting group. If there is no technical committee, the applicant unit shall designate the drafting unit, which shall form the drafting group.

If the Ministry of Commerce directly issues the project plan, the Ministry shall designate a technical committee or drafting unit to form the drafting group.

The drafting group shall be professional and broadly representative.

Article 12: The drafting group is responsible for preparing the standard draft for public comment and the compilation instructions. The draft and instructions shall comply with the relevant requirements for drafting technical documents for standard formulation and revision. The compilation instructions shall include the following content:

(1) Work summary, including drafting group members and their units, drafting process, etc.;

(2) Coordination with relevant laws, regulations, and standards;

(3) Drafting principles and main content;

(4) Demonstration of promotion and application and expected effects;

(5) Adoption of international standards and advanced foreign standards;

(6) Handling process and basis of major divergent opinions;

(7) Requirements and suggested measures for implementing the standard;

(8) Other matters that should be explained.

Article 13: After the standard draft for public comment and compilation instructions are formed, the technical committee or drafting unit shall solicit opinions in writing from relevant competent departments, social organizations, enterprises and institutions, research institutes, experts, etc., and submit them to the Ministry of Commerce for public solicitation of opinions on the Ministry's website.

Article 14: After the public solicitation of opinions ends, the drafting group shall improve the standard draft for public comment and compilation instructions based on collected opinions, form the standard draft for approval, compilation instructions, and summary and handling table of opinions, and submit them to the technical committee for preliminary review. After passing the preliminary review, the technical committee shall form the approval materials and submit them to the Ministry of Commerce. If there is no technical committee, the drafting unit shall submit to the relevant department of the Ministry of Commerce for preliminary review. After passing, the drafting unit shall form the approval materials and submit them to the Ministry of Commerce. The approval materials include:

(1) Standard draft for approval;

(2) Compilation instructions;

(3) Summary and handling table of opinions;

(4) Preliminary review opinion form.

Article 15: The Ministry of Commerce shall review the approval materials. The review content includes:

(1) Whether the standard formulation procedure and approval materials are standardized;

(2) Whether they comply with relevant laws and regulations;

(3) Coordination among standards;

(4) Handling of major divergent opinions;

(5) Other content that needs to be reviewed.

Article 16: After passing the review, the technical committee shall establish an expert group to conduct a technical review of the standard draft for approval. If there is no technical committee, the Ministry of Commerce shall establish the expert group for technical review.

Members of the expert group come from producers, operators, users, consumers, public interest parties, and other stakeholders. Educational and research institutions, relevant administrative departments, testing and certification bodies, social organizations, etc., can act as representatives of public interest parties. The expert group generally consists of no fewer than nine members.

Members of the drafting group shall not undertake the technical review work.

Article 17: Technical review can be conducted through on-site meetings, video conferences, or correspondence review. Industry standards that may have a significant impact on national economy and people's livelihood shall be reviewed in meeting form. The technical review content includes:

(1) Necessity, economy, and operability of the technical content of the standard;

(2) Source and basis of key technical indicators;

(3) Other content that needs technical review.

Article 18: For technical reviews conducted in meeting form, minutes of the review meeting and review conclusion forms shall be produced. For correspondence review, a correspondence review conclusion form shall be produced.

Technical review conclusions shall be approved by at least two-thirds of all expert group members.

Article 19: After passing the technical review, the technical committee or drafting unit shall organize the drafting group to improve relevant materials based on the technical review conclusions and form the approval submission materials to the Ministry of Commerce. The submission materials include:

(1) Standard approval draft;

(2) Compilation instructions;

(3) List of expert group members;

(4) Minutes of the review meeting, review conclusion form, or correspondence review conclusion form;

(5) Original text and translation of adopted international standards.

Article 20: The Ministry of Commerce shall review the completeness, standardization, and opinion handling of the submission materials.

For industry standards that may have a significant impact on national economy and people's livelihood, the Ministry of Commerce may publicly solicit opinions from society or relevant parties again before the standard is issued.

Article 21: Industry standards in the business field approved by the Ministry of Commerce shall be numbered by the Ministry and published in the form of announcements.

Article 22: The code for business field industry standards is "SB/T" (domestic trade industry standards) or "WM/T" (foreign economic and trade industry standards). The standard number consists of the standard code, release sequence number, and release year.

Article 23: The text of business field industry standards shall be publicly disclosed on the Ministry of Commerce website in accordance with the law.

Article 24: During the formulation process of business field industry standards, with the consent of the Ministry of Commerce, the standard name and drafting unit may be adjusted.

Article 25: The period from the issuance of the project plan to the submission of the approval draft for business field industry standards shall generally not exceed twelve months.

If it is not possible to submit within the specified period, the technical committee or drafting unit shall explain the situation to the Ministry of Commerce thirty days in advance and apply for an extension. The extension period shall not exceed six months.

Article 26: If the technical committee or drafting unit fails to submit the approval draft on time or if circumstances arise that make it inappropriate to continue formulating the business field industry standard, the Ministry of Commerce may terminate the project.

Article 27 The Ministry of Commerce may simplify the formulation procedures for urgently needed industry standards in the business field according to work requirements.

Article 28 If the technical committee or drafting unit fails to complete the formulation of business field industry standards on time or as required without valid reasons, the Ministry of Commerce shall order a correction within a time limit; if not corrected within the time limit, they shall not undertake standardization tasks in the business field for five years.

Chapter 3 Organization and Implementation of Standards

Article 29 The organization and implementation of national standards in the business field shall be carried out in accordance with national standards regulations.

The organization and implementation of industry standards in the business field shall be carried out in accordance with these Measures.

Article 30 After the release of industry standards in the business field, the Ministry of Commerce shall organize local commerce authorities, technical committees, social organizations, and others to carry out standard promotion and publicity work.

Article 31 The interpretation of industry standards in the business field shall be the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce. Interpretation requests shall be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce, which shall accept and respond according to law. The Ministry of Commerce shall not accept interpretation requests under the following circumstances:

(1) Content not belonging to the provisions of business field industry standards;

(2) Judgments on whether relevant objects comply with a certain business field industry standard;

(3) Business field industry standards that have not yet been released.

Consultations on specific technical content during the implementation of business field industry standards shall be answered by the technical committee or drafting unit.

Article 32 The Ministry of Commerce shall establish an information management system for the formulation and revision of business field industry standards to receive opinions and suggestions from all sectors of society on the implementation of industry standards.

Article 33 The technical committee or drafting unit shall collect the implementation status of business field industry standards in various forms and conduct timely evaluation and research.

Article 34 The technical committee or drafting unit shall review business field industry standards based on their implementation effects and social development needs, and submit review conclusions to the Ministry of Commerce on whether to continue, revise, or abolish the standards. The review content includes:

(1) Coordination of the standard content with current laws, regulations, and related standards;

(2) The scope of application of the standard;

(3) Economic and social benefits generated by the implementation of the standard;

(4) Problems and suggestions arising during the implementation of the standard.

The review cycle generally shall not exceed five years.

Article 35 If the review conclusion is to revise, the procedures in Chapter 2 of these Measures shall be followed.

If the review conclusion is to abolish, the Ministry of Commerce shall publicly solicit opinions on its website. If there are no major divergent opinions or consensus is reached through coordination, the Ministry of Commerce shall issue an announcement to abolish the standard.

Article 36 After the release of business field industry standards, if individual technical requirements need to be modified, supplemented, or deleted, the technical committee or drafting unit shall fill out the "Industry Standard Modification Notice" and submit it to the Ministry of Commerce. Upon approval, the Ministry of Commerce shall issue a public announcement.

Chapter 4 Supplementary Provisions

Article 37 The formulation, organization, and implementation of guiding technical documents for standardization in the business field, as well as supervision of their formulation and implementation, shall be carried out with reference to these Measures.

Article 38 These Measures shall be interpreted by the Ministry of Commerce.

Article 39 These Measures shall come into force on October 20, 2022. The "Measures for the Administration of Standardization in the Business Field (Trial)" (Ministry of Commerce Order No. 5, 2012) shall be repealed simultaneously.