China's laundry and dyeing industry looks forward to clear regulations

China's Laundry and Dyeing Industry Awaits "Regulations" to Define Boundaries

China's Laundry and Dyeing Industry Awaits "Regulations" to Define Boundaries

China's laundry and dyeing industry is expected to enter a standardized development track. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce announced the "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Management Measures (Draft)" to solicit opinions from all sectors. The introduction of this industry regulation is conducive to standardizing laundry and dyeing service behaviors and promoting the healthy and rapid development of the laundry and dyeing market.

"Currently, the system for standardizing the laundry and dyeing industry is relatively lacking, and industry standards are lagging behind. In the rapid growth of the laundry and dyeing industry, the industry hopes to have a set of rules and regulations to regulate market order," said Pan Wei, Secretary-General of the Laundry and Dyeing Professional Committee of the China General Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with reporters. He stated that the Ministry of Commerce issuing such an industry management regulation is very beneficial and necessary for promoting the healthy development of the laundry and dyeing industry.

Beneficial for regulating the market
The development of China's laundry and dyeing industry has a long history, but its rapid growth has occurred mainly in the past decade or so. According to a survey by the Laundry and Dyeing Professional Committee of the China General Chamber of Commerce, by 2005, there were about 150,000 professional laundry and dyeing shops (factories, companies) nationwide, with approximately 800,000 employees, and a market size of around 10 billion RMB.
However, it is understood that the overall level of China's laundry and dyeing industry is not high. On one hand, enterprises have outdated equipment, lack standardized management, and have low-quality employees; on the other hand, there are many consumer disputes in laundry and dyeing, with a high complaint rate.
"Currently, there are some brand stores, but there are also many family-run shops, and even unregistered black shops. The phenomenon of mixed quality indeed exists. This has led some non-compliant stores to adopt non-compliant methods, opportunistic tactics, and even compete with ultra-low prices, disrupting the laundry and dyeing market and affecting the industry's image. Law enforcement and industrial and commercial departments face difficulties due to the lack of reference regulations," Pan Wei said. While the laundry and dyeing industry is moving toward standardization and healthy development, everyone also realizes that the industry needs regulation and enterprises must self-discipline, otherwise it will affect the industry's own development.
After the announcement of the "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Management Measures (Draft)", the industry responded strongly. In the relevant suggestions and opinions, some believe that the market entry threshold in the measures is too low, the provisions are not specific, and lack operability.
In response, some industry experts said that the laundry and dyeing industry itself is a relatively low-technical-content industry, with not very high requirements for practitioners, and solving employment is also an important role of the laundry and dyeing industry. If the threshold is too high, it will restrict some people from entering. According to the "Administrative Licensing Law", thresholds cannot be set arbitrarily but should be chosen by the market.
Pan Wei believes that industry regulations need to have a certain degree of operability, but as a nationwide regulation, it is indeed difficult to be too specific. Currently, there are large differences in the laundry and dyeing industry across regions. "Each region can formulate more specific regulations based on this management measure and local actual conditions. Some places have already jointly introduced local management measures with industrial and commercial, environmental protection, and laundry and dyeing associations, with good results."
He said that the China Laundry and Dyeing Association hopes to implement classification and grading among laundry and dyeing enterprises, introducing grading standards in laundries. Stores can open, but different grades have different standards and service levels, allowing consumers to have different choices, thereby avoiding vicious competition and eliminating mixed-quality situations. He revealed that at this stage, the association plans to pilot this in some member units and regions first.
Cautious welcome from enterprises
The announced "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Management Measures (Draft)" stipulate requirements for laundry and dyeing enterprises regarding equipment use, cleaning and washing products, and exhaust emissions. When building new, renovating, or expanding laundry shops, fully enclosed dry cleaning machines with solvent purification and recovery functions must be used, and safety, hygiene, environmental protection, water-saving, and energy-saving must comply with relevant national laws, regulations, and standards.
Yan Hong, manager of Rongchang Ilsa Laundry Chain Group, said the introduction of the management measures is more favorable to formal enterprises. "As a large laundry enterprise, we have always operated in a standardized manner. Whether it is machinery or products used, we operate according to environmentally friendly models and comply with relevant standards. Some small shops may have to adjust and improve equipment to meet the requirements of the regulations." She believes that the laundry and dyeing industry is a relatively small sector in the service industry, and many consumers are not aware of the harm of non-environmentally friendly practices. Ultimately, it depends on consumer choice.
In addition, she expressed concern that no matter how good the system is, if some enterprises do not implement it, the effect will be affected. Therefore, the implementation of the system is more important. "Large enterprises will definitely comply, but small laundries may not necessarily do so."
The domestic commercial service industry started with a very low threshold, often resulting in a rush to enter the market. When it reaches a certain scale, market regulation is needed to avoid vicious competition and damage to industry interests. Setting certain environmental protection thresholds for the laundry and dyeing industry is both a trend and beneficial to consumers and society.
Pan Wei believes that the management measures (draft) propose some requirements regarding equipment, washing products, and waste disposal, which will certainly increase some enterprises' costs, but this is necessary. "Setting certain environmental protection thresholds is a trend. On one hand, it has a guiding role to promote enterprises toward standardization. On the other hand, enterprises operating according to these standards will benefit in the long run by expanding industry scale." He said some low-level cyclical shops may be eliminated as a result, but this is an inevitable outcome of the market moving toward standardization.
The owner of a community laundry shop said that fully complying with the requirements in the measures is not a big problem for large enterprises, but it is somewhat difficult for small businesses. "There are many shops now, competition for customers is fierce, and profits are thin. Updating equipment would be a large investment, which small businesses find hard to bear."
In interviews, some business people also said that some management provisions are unclear, and some tend to favor consumers. For example, in consumer dispute cases, it only specifies under what circumstances merchants need to compensate, but does not clearly specify the extent of damage or the upper or lower limits of compensation. When consumer disputes arise, it is unclear whether the problem lies with the merchant, the customer, or the quality or fabric of the clothes. The market currently lacks authoritative appraisal institutions. Once conflicts arise, problems are often blamed on the merchants.
Wang Xueren, Secretary-General of the Beijing Laundry and Dyeing Industry Association, analyzed that industry management measures are very necessary to maintain industry order, but in resolving and mediating consumer disputes, supporting testing institutions are needed. Currently, the management measures are issued by the Ministry of Commerce, while the establishment of testing institutions is recognized by the State Administration for Market Regulation. Multi-agency management makes it difficult to achieve effective results.
"The current reality is that when customers encounter consumer disputes and seek resolution from the Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Consumer Association, or the courts, arbitration institutions need to make decisions based on the test results from intermediary testing agencies. However, most intermediary testing agencies currently lack authorization and legal recognition, which makes them somewhat lacking in confidence."

Source: China International Beauty Network
2007-2-27