Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation (2016 Amendment)

Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation (2016 Amendment) Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation (Adopted at the 18th executive meeting of the State Council on August 20, 2003, promulgated by the Order No. 390 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on September 3, 2003 and amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Amending Certain Administrative Regulations on February 6, 2016) Chapter I General Principles Article 1 The present Regulations are hereby formulated for the purpose of regulating the certification and accreditation activities, improving the quality of products and services and the level of administration, as well as promoting the economic and social development. Article 2 The “certification” as mentioned in the present Regulations refers to the assessment activities carried out by the certification bodies to testify whether the products, services, and management systems are in conformity with the relevant technical norms and their compulsive requirements or standards. The “accreditation” as mentioned in the present Regulations refers to the assessment activities carried out by the accreditation bodies to recognize the capabilities and qualifications of the certification bodies, inspection organizations and laboratories, and practicing personnel engaging in such certification activities as the appraisal and examination, etc. Article 3 The present Regulations shall be observed when the certification and accreditation activities are undertaken within the territory of the People's Republic of China. Article 4 The State shall implement a uniform certification and accreditation supervision system. The State shall apply the working mechanism on certification and accreditation under which all the relevant departments shall implement the work together under the uniform administration, supervision and comprehensive coordination of the certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council. Article 5 The certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council shall strengthen the supervision over the activities of the certification training institutions and certification consultation institutions. Article 6 The principles of impersonality and independence, openness and justice, and good faith shall be followed in carrying out the certification and accreditation activities. Article 7 The State encourages the international mutual recognition activities of certification and accreditation to be carried out on the basis of equality and mutual benefits, which shall not impair the national security and public interests. Article 8 The organizations and persons engaging in the certification and accreditation activities shall have the duty of keeping confidential for the state secrets and commercial secrets learned. Chapter II Certification Bodies Article 9 To be qualified as a certification body shall be subject to the approval of the certification and accreditation administrative department of the State Council, and certification activities shall be conducted within the approved scope. No entity or person may undertake certification activities without approval. Article 10 For qualification as a certification body, the following conditions shall be met: (1) Having the legal person status; (2) Having a fixed location and necessary facilities; (3) Having management rules in conformity with the requirements of certification and accreditation; (4) Having registered capital of not less than three million yuan; (5) Having ten or more full-time certification staff members in the corresponding fields. Certification bodies engaging in product certification activities shall possess such technical capability for examination and inspection fitting in with the relative product certification activities in addition. Article 11 To be qualified as a certification body, a foreign-funded enterprise shall meet the following conditions, in addition to those prescribed in Article 10 of this Regulation: (1) The foreign investor has been accredited by the accreditation body in the country or region where it is located. (2) The foreign investor has three or more years of experience in certification activities. The application of a foreign-funded enterprise for qualification as a certification body and the approval and registration of such qualification shall also comply with the relevant foreign investment laws and administrative regulations and other relevant provisions issued by the state. Article 12 The procedures for the application for and approval of qualification as a certification body shall be as follows: (1) The applicant for qualification as a certification body shall file a written application with the certification and accreditation administrative department of the State Council and submit supporting documents in conformity with the conditions as prescribed in Article 10 of this Regulation. (2) The certification and accreditation administrative department of the State Council shall, within 45 days of acceptance of the application for qualification as a certification body, make a decision on whether to approve the application. If the responsibilities of the relevant departments of the State Council are involved, the opinions of the relevant departments of the State Council shall be solicited. If a decision to approve the application is made, an approval document shall be issued to the applicant; or if a decision to disapprove the application is made, the applicant shall be notified in writing of the decision with an explanation of the reasons for the disapproval. The certification and accreditation administrative department of the State Council shall publish a directory of enterprises legally qualified as certification bodies. Article 13 A representative office established within the territory of the People's Republic of China by a foreign certification body may conduct promotional activities related to the business scope of the foreign certification body only after undergoing the registration formalities with the administration department for industry and commerce according to the law, but may not carry out any certification activity. The registration of a representative office established within the territory of the People's Republic of China by a foreign certification body shall be handled under the relevant foreign investment laws and administrative regulations and the relevant provisions issued by the state. Article 14 The certification bodies may not have interests relations of any kind with the administrative departments. The certification bodies are prohibited from accepting any grants that may influence the impersonality and justice of the certification activities; and are prohibited from undertaking any such activities that may influence the impersonality and justice of the certification activities as the development and sale of the products, etc. The certification bodies may not have interests relations of any kind with the certification clients in such aspects as capital and management. Article 15 The persons engaging in the certification activities shall practice in one certification body, and may not practice in more than two certification bodies at the same time. Article 16 The inspection organizations and the laboratories that issue to the public the data and results, which have the function of verification, shall possess the basic conditions and capabilities as required by the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and may carry out the relative activities after being recognized in accordance with the law. The results of the accreditation shall be publicized by the certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council. Chapter III Certification Article 17 The State shall popularize the certification on products, services and management systems in conformity with the requirements of the economic and social development. Article 18 The certification bodies shall carry out the certification activities in accordance with the basic certification standards and certification rules, which shall be formulated by the certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council; in case the standards and rules have to do with the functions of the relative departments of the State Council, they shall be formulated by the certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council together with the relative departments of the State Council. If the certification is in a new field, and no corresponding certification rules have been formulated by the departments as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the certification bodies may make certification rules by themselves, which shall be put on records at the certification and accreditation administration department of the State Council. Article 19 Any legal entity, organization or individual may entrust a legally established certification body of his own accord to make the certification on products, services and management systems. Article 20 No certification bodies shall refuse to provide the certification services within the business scope of their own certification bodies for the reason that the clients fail to take part in the certification consultation or certification training, etc., nor shall they put forward to the clients the requirements or restricted conditions irrespective to the certification activities. Article 21 The certification bodies shall make public such information as the basic certification standards, certification rules and charging standards, etc. Article 22 The certification bodies and the inspection organizations in relation to certification, as well as the laboratories shall, when carrying out the certification activities and inspection and examination activities in relation to certification, complete the procedures as prescribed in the basic certification standards and certification rules, so as to ensure the integrity, impersonality and truthfulness of the certification, inspection and examination, no procedures shall be increased, reduced, or omitted. The certification bodies and inspection organizations in relation to certification, as well as the laboratories shall make full records on the process of certification, inspection and examination, which shall be kept on file for future reference. Article 23 The certification bodies and their personnel shall make the certification conclusions in time, and ensure the impersonality and truthfulness of the certification conclusions, which shall then be subscribed by the person in charge of the certification bodies after being signed by the certification personnel. The certification bodies and their personnel shall be responsible for the certification conclusions. Article 24 In case the products, services, and the management systems are certified as in conformity with the requirements of certification by the certification conclusions, the certification bodies shall issue the certificate to the clients in time. Article 25 Those who have obtained the certificates shall use the certificates and certification marks within the certification scope. No entity shall, by using the product and service certificates, certification marks and the relative characters and symbols, mislead the public to believe that their management systems have passed the certification; or mislead the public to believe that their products and services have passed the certification by using the administration system certificates, certification marks and the relative characters and symbols. Article 26 A certification body may develop its certification marks independently. The style, words or characters, or name of the certification marks developed by a certification body independently shall not violate the provisions of laws and administrative regulations, shall not be identical with or similar to the certification marks promoted by the state, shall not impede social administration, and shall not impair social morals or good social climates. Article 27 The certification bodies shall implement effective following-up investigations on the products, services and management systems that have been certified by them. In ......