Presidential Decree No. 78

The Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China, revised and adopted at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on 4 November 2017, is hereby promulgated, effective 1 January 2018. 

President Xi Jinping

November 4, 2017

(Adopted at the fifth session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on December 29, 1988 and revised at the 30th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on November 4, 2017)

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purposes of strengthening standardisation, improving product and service quality, promoting scientific and technological advancement, protecting human health and life and property safety, safeguarding national security and ecological safety, and raising economic and social development level. 

Article 2 For the purpose of the Law, standards (including standard samples) refer to the technical requirements that need to be unified for such fields as agriculture, industry, services and social undertakings. 

Such standards include national standards, industry standards, local standards, group standards, and corporate standards. National standards are divided into mandatory standards, recommended standards, industry standards, local standards are recommended standards. 

Mandatory standards must be implemented. The State encourages the adoption of recommended standards. 

Article 3 The tasks of standardization include formulating standards, organizing the implementation of standards, and supervising the formulation and implementation of standards. 

People's governments at and above the county level shall incorporate the standardization work into the national economic and social development plan of the corresponding level, and include the standardization funds in the budget of the corresponding level. 

Article 4 Formulation of standards shall, on the basis of scientific and technological research findings and social practical experience, further investigate and expound, seek opinions extensively, ensure scientificalness, standardness and timeliness, and improve upon the quality of standards. 

Article 5 The administrative department of standardization under the State Council administers the nationwide standardization work in a unified manner. Competent administrative departments under the State Council shall administer the standardization work for their respective departments and industries according to their division of responsibilities. 

Administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments at and above the county level administer the standardization work in a unified manner within their respective administrative regions. Competent administrative authorities of the people's governments at or above the county level shall administer the standardization work for the departments and industries of their respective administrative regions according to their division of responsibilities. 

Article 6 The State Council has established a coordination mechanism for the standardization, make overall arrangements to push ahead the major reform in standardization, research the formulation of major policies on standardization, and coordinate the formulation and implementation of certain greatly controversial standards that relate to multiple departments and a wide range of fields. 

Local people's governments at and above the level of city divided into districts may establish a coordination mechanism for standardization when necessary, and make overall arrangements to coordinate major standardization issues within their respective administrative regions. 

Article 7 The State encourages enterprises, social organisations, education and research institutes etc to carry out or participate in standardisation. 

Article 8 The State actively promotes participation in international standardisation activities, carries out foreign cooperation and exchange in standardisation, participates in formulation of international standards, adopts international standards in combination with national conditions, and promotes conversion and application between Chinese standards and foreign standards. 

The State encourages enterprises, social groups, educational institutions, scientific and technological institutions, and other entities to participate in international standardization activities. 

Article 9 Any entity or individual that has made prominent contributions to the standardization work shall be given recognition and rewards in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State. 

Chapter 2 Formulation of Standards

Article 10 For technical requirements for safeguarding the personal health, safety of life and property, national security, and security of the ecological environment, and for meeting the basic needs of economic and social management, mandatory national standards shall be formulated. 

The relevant administrative authorities of the State Council shall, based on their duties, take charge of project initiation, organising and drafting, solicitation of opinions and technical review for mandatory national standards. The administrative department of standardization under the State Council shall be responsible for setting up projects for, numbering, and informing the public of mandatory national standards. The standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall carry out examination of project proposal to see if the proposed mandatory national standards comply with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, and shall approve the project proposal if it complies with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. 

Administrative departments of standardization under people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may propose to the administrative department of standardization under the State Council to set up projects for mandatory national standards, which shall be determined by the administrative department of standardization under the State Council in concert with the relevant competent administrative departments under the State Council. Social organisations, enterprises, institutions and citizens may give project proposal recommendations of mandatory national standards to the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council; where the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council deems that a project proposal is necessary, it shall decide jointly with the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council. 

The State Council shall approve and promulgate, or authorise approval and promulgation of, mandatory national standards. 

Where the laws, administrative regulations and State Council decisions stipulate otherwise on formulation of mandatory standards, such provisions shall prevail. 

Article 11 For technical requirements that satisfy basic and general purposes, supplement mandatory national standards, or play a leading role for relevant industries, recommended national standards may be formulated. 

Recommended national standards shall be formulated by the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council. 

Article 12 For technical requirements for which there are no recommended national standards in place yet and that need to be unified within a certain sector across the country, industry standards may be formulated. 

Industry standards shall be formulated by the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council, and filed with the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council for record. 

Article 13 Local standards may be formulated with a view to meeting local natural conditions, social customs and habits and other special technical requirements. 

Local standards shall be formulated by the administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; the administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments of cities divided into districts may formulate local standards for their respective administrative regions upon approval of the administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government at their own locality, in light of the special needs of their respective administrative regions. Local standards shall be filed by the standardisation administrative authority of the People's Government of the province, autonomous region or centrally-administered municipality, with the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council for record, and the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall notify the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council. 

Article 14 For standards urgently required for protection of personal health, safety of life and property, national security, security of ecological environment and economic and social development, the administrative authorities in charge of formulation of standards shall give priority to project proposal and promptly complete the project. 

Article 15 Before a project is established to formulate the mandatory standards or recommended standards, efforts shall be made to launch a survey to learn about the real demands from competent administrative departments, enterprises, social groups, consumers, educational institutions, and scientific research institutions, and expound on and evaluate the necessity and feasibility of the formulation of the proposed standards. And while the standards are being formulated, comments shall be solicited through multiple ways that are convenient and effective for this purpose, and the relevant personnel shall be gathered together to investigate, analyze, try out and expound on certain matters regarding the standards, in order to ensure that the relevant standards are coordinated with and support each other. 

Article 16 To formulate recommended standards, the relevant parties shall be organized to set up the standardization technical committee which shall take charge of the drafting and technical review of standards. For formulation of mandatory standards, the relevant standardisation technical committee may be entrusted to undertake drafting and technical examination of the standards. Where there is no standardization technical committee in place, a panel of experts shall be assembled to take charge of the drafting and technical review of relevant standards. Members of the standardization technical committee and the expert panel shall be representative to a large extent. 

Article 17 Mandatory standards shall be published in full for free access by the public. The State proposes releasing the text of recommended standards to the public for free. 

Article 18 The State encourages social groups, such as academies, associations, chambers of commerce, unions, and industry technology alliances, to coordinate with relevant market players in jointly formulating group standards that meet the needs of the market and innovations; these group standards may be voluntarily adopted by members of such social groups as agreed or by other social parties as stipulated by the groups concerned. 

Formulation of group standards shall adhere to the principles of openness, transparency and fairness, ensure that all participating entities obtain the relevant information, reflect the common needs of all participating entities, and organise investigation, analysis, experimentation and expounding for matters in relation to the standards. 

The administrative department of standardization under the State Council shall, in concert with the relevant competent administrative departments under the State Council, regulate, provide guidance to, and supervise the formulation of group standards. 

Article 19 Enterprises may formulate enterprise standards based on their needs, or formulate enterprise standards jointly with other enterprises. 

Article 20 The State supports important industries, strategic emerging industries, key common technologies etc in their use for formulation of community standards and enterprise standards. 

Article 21 Technical requirements of recommended national standards, industry standards, local standards, community standards, enterprise standards shall not be less than the relevant technical requirements of mandatory national standards. 

The State encourages social organisations and enterprises to formulate community standards and enterprise standards which are higher than the relevant requirements of recommended standards. 

Article 22 Standards shall be formulated in a way to facilitate the scientific and reasonable use of resources, promote scientific and technological achievements, increase the safety, universality, and replaceability of products, boost economic, social, and ecological benefits, and make them technologically advanced and economically reasonable. 

Any practice of taking advantage of standards to eliminate or restrict market competition, such as hindering the free flow of goods and services, is prohibited. 

Article 23 The State promotes military-civilian integration and resource sharing of standardisation, raises the interoperability level of military and civilian standards, actively promotes adoption of advanced applicable civilian standards in national defence and development of armed forces, and conversion of advanced applicable military standards to civilian standards. 

Article 24 Standards shall be given serial numbers in accordance with the numbering rules. The Rules for numbering standards shall be laid down and released by the administrative department of standardization under the State Council. 

Chapter 3 Implementation of Standards

Article 25 Products and services which do not comply with mandatory standards shall not be manufactured, sold, imported or provided. 

Article 26 Technical requirements for exported products and services shall be subject to clauses as agreed in relevant contracts. 

Article 27 The State runs a system of letting groups and enterprises announce and publish their standards and supervising their standards themselves. Enterprises shall make public the serial numbers and names of the mandatory standards, recommended standards, group standards or corporate standards they implement; where enterprises adopt their own standards, they shall also make public the functional indexes of their products and services, and performance indexes of products. The State encourages announcement of community standards and enterprise standards through the standards information public services platform. 

Enterprises shall carry out their business activities in accordance with standards, and the products manufactured and services provided by them shall be in conformity with the technical requirements set forth in the standards they have made public. 

Article 28 Enterprises shall abide by the standardization requirements set forth herein to research and develop new products, improve products and carry out technical transformation. 

Article 29 The State has established a statistical analysis and reporting system for the implementation of mandatory standards. 

The administrative department of standardization under the State Council, related departments under the State Council and administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments at or above the municipal level of cities with districts shall establish an information feedback and evaluation mechanism for the implementation of standards, and review the standards they have worked out depending on the feedback and evaluation results. The review cycle for standards shall generally not exceed five years. Upon review, standards which do not adapt to economic and social development needs and technological advancement shall be promptly revised or repealed. 

Article 30 Where there is repetition between the relevant standards or the relevant standards do not converge or complement each other, the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall, based on the information feedback, evaluation and review information for implementation of standards, handle the matter jointly with the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council or through the standardisation coordination mechanism of the State Council. 

Article 31 People's governments at and above the county level shall support the standardization pilot and demonstration program and publicity in this regard, to popularize the concept of standardization, promote the standardization-related experience, urge the application of standardized methods by the whole of society to organize the production, operation, management and service, and give play to the supportive role of standards in facilitating the transformation and upgrading and leading the innovation orientation. 

Chapter 4 Supervision and Administration

Article 32 The standardisation administrative authorities and the relevant administrative authorities of the People's Governments of county level and above shall, based on their statutory duties, guide and supervise formulation of standards, supervise and inspect implementation of standards. 

Article 33 Where a dispute arises in the course of formulation and implementation of standards by the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council, the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall organise negotiation; where negotiation is unsuccessful, the dispute shall be resolved by the standardisation coordination mechanism of the State Council. 

Article 34 Where the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council or the standardisation administrative authority of the People's Government of a municipality divided into districts do/does not number, review or file standards pursuant to the provisions of this Law, the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall require them to provide an explanation and to make correction within a stipulated period. 

Article 35 Any entity or individual has the right to report and make a complaint about any acts in violation of the provisions herein to the administrative departments of standardization and the relevant administrative departments. 

Administrative departments of standardization and related administrative departments shall make public the hotline, mail box or e-mail address for tip-offs and complaints, and allocate certain personnel in charge of accepting tip-offs and complaints. In the event that a case is reported or complained of by individuals with real names, the administrative departments that have accepted the tip-offs and complaints shall notify such individuals of the handling results, keep any information about such individuals secret, and give them rewards in accordance with the applicable provisions of the State. 

Chapter 5 Legal Liabilities

Article 36 Where products produced, sold or imported or services provided are not in conformity with the mandatory standards, or the products manufactured or services provided by an enterprise are not consistent with the technical requirements specified in the standards it has published, such enterprises shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law. 

Article 37 Where the products manufactured, sold or imported or the services provided do not comply with mandatory standards, the offender shall be punished pursuant to the provisions of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Commodity Inspection, the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and related laws and administrative regulations, and be included in the creditworthiness records, and announced pursuant to the provisions of the relevant laws and administrative regulations; where the case constitutes a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law. 

Article 38 Where any enterprise fails to make public the standards it implements in accordance with the provisions herein, the administrative department of standardization concerned shall order it to make corrections within a specified time limit; if it fails to do so within the time limit, the department shall announce such circumstance on the public service platform for information about standards. 

Article 39 Where the standards formulated by the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council or the standardisation administrative authority of the People's Government of a municipality divided into districts do/does not comply with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 21 and/or the first paragraph of Article 22 of this Law, correction shall be made promptly; where correction is not made, the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall announce that the relevant standards shall be repealed; the accountable leaders and directly accountable personnel shall be punished pursuant to the law. 

Where the standards formulated by a social organisation or an enterprise do not comply with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 21 and/or the first paragraph of Article 22 of this Law, the standardisation administrative authority shall order the social organisation or the enterprise to make correction within a stipulated period; where correction is not made within the stipulated period, the standardisation administrative authority of a People's Government of provincial level and above shall repeal the relevant standards, and make an announcement on the standards information public services platform. 

Persons who violate the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 22 of this Law in making use of standards to eliminate or restrict market competition shall be dealt with pursuant to the provisions of the Anti-monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China and related laws and administrative regulations. 

Article 40 Where the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council or the standardisation administrative authority of the People's Government of a municipality divided into districts do/does not number or file a standard pursuant to the provisions of this Law, and do/does not make correction pursuant to the provisions of Article 34 of this Law, the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council shall revoke the relevant standard serial number, or announce abolition of the standard which has not been filed; the accountable leaders and directly accountable personnel shall be punished pursuant to the law. 

Where the relevant administrative authorities of the State Council or the standardisation administrative authority of the People's Government of a municipality divided into districts do/does not review standards formulated by them pursuant to the provisions of this Law, and do/does not make correction pursuant to the provisions of Article 34 of this Law, the accountable leaders and directly accountable personnel shall be punished pursuant to the law. 

Article 41 Where the standardisation administrative authority of the State Council does not approve project proposal for formulation of mandatory national standards pursuant to the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 10 of this Law, or the formulated standards do not comply with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 21 and the first paragraph of Article 22 of this Law, or does not number, review or process filing of a standard pursuant to the provisions of this Law, correction shall be promptly made; the accountable leaders and directly accountable personnel shall be punished pursuant to the law. 

Article 42 Where social groups and enterprises fail to number their own group standards or corporate standards in accordance with the provisions herein, the administrative departments of standardization shall order them to make corrections within a specified time limit; if they fail to do so within the time limit, the administrative departments of standardization under the people's governments at and above the provincial level shall cancel the number of standards concerned, and announce the circumstance to the public on the public service platform for information about standards. 

Article 43 Personnel in charge of supervision and administration of standardization who abuse their powers, neglect their duties or commit illegalities for personal gains shall be punished in accordance with the law; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated for in accordance with the law. 

Chapter 6 Supplementary Provisions

Article 44 The measures for formulating, implementing and supervising military standards will be formulated separately by the State Council and the Central Military Commission. 

Article 45 This Law shall come into force as of January 1, 2018.