WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/2/Add.65
29 January 2002
(02-0403)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE AGREEMENT
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Communication from the People's Republic of China
Addendum
The following statement under Article 15.2 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
has been received from the People's Republic of China.
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I. INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 15.2 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
(TBT Agreement)  and China’s commitments in Article 177, 184 and 185 of the Report of the Working
Party on the Accession of China , the Government of the People’s Republic of China would like to
inform the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade following measures which have been in
existence or taken to ensure the implementation and administration of the TBT Agreement.
II. CONSISTENCE WITH THE TBT AGREEMENT OF CHINA’S TECHNICAL
REGULATIONS, STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
1. China’s technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures will be
formulated and adopted to fulfill those legitimate objectives which are in line with the TBT Agreement
and the following Chinese laws and regulations:  Law on Legislation of the People’s Republic of
China; Standardization Law of the People’s Republic  of China;  Law of the People’s Republic of
China on Product Quality;  Law of the People ’s Republic of China on Import-Export Commodity
Inspection; Regulations on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative Regulations; and Regulations
on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative Rules .  These legitimate objectives are, inter alia:
national security requirements; prevention of deceptive practices; protection of human health or
safety, animal or plant life or health, or the environment.
III. NOTIFICATION BODY, ENQUIRY POINT AND PUBLICATION
(i) Enquiry point
2. As stated in Paragraph 177 of the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China to
the WTO , China set up two TBT enquiry points in the year 2000 which were notified to the
TBT Committee.  Recently, these two enquiry points have been merged into one, which is now in the
International Inspection and Quarantine Standards and Technical Regulations Research Center under
the State General Administration of the Peoples Republic of China for Quality Supervision and
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).G/TBT/2/Add.65
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Address and contact means of the enquiry point are as follows:
15, Fang Cao Di West Street,
Chaoyang District,
Beijing 100020, China
Tel: 0086-10-65952460
Fax: 0086-10-65068143
E-mail: srrc@aqsiq.gov.cn
(ii) Notification authority
3. China WTO Notification and Enquiry Center of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic
Cooperation (MOFTEC) will be responsible for China’s Notifications related to the TBT Agreement.
Address and contact means of the notification authority are as follows:
2, Dong Chang An Ave.,
Dong Cheng District,
Beijing 100731, China
Tel: 0086-10-6519 7336, 6519 7762
Fax: 0086-10-6519 7762E-mail: wtonoti@moftec.gov.cn
(iii) Publication
4. Technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures will all be published
on the Gazette of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation or the Bulletin of AQSIQ.
IV. TRANSPARENCY
5. When formulating technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures,
China will give non-discriminatory consideration to comments made by other WTO Members.  This
is stipulated in Articles 34 and 35 of the  Law on Legislation , Articles 12, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the
Regulations on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative  Regulations  and Articles 14 and 15 of
Regulations on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative Rules .
6. China will give a reasonable interval between the publication of technical regulations and
their entry into force so that adaptation could be ma de by other WTO Members.  This is stipulated in
Article 29 of the Regulations on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative Regulations  and
Article 32 of Regulations on the Enactment Procedure of Administrative Rules .
V. TECHNICAL REGULATIONS AND RELEVANT CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
PROCEDURES
7. China will apply same technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures to both
imported and domestic products.  This is stipulated in Article 14 of the Law on Standardization,
Article 2 of the Law on Product Quality  and Article 4 of Regulatory Provisions on Compulsory
Product Certification .
8. China will ensure that technical regulations are not formulated, adopted or applied with a
view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade.
9. China’s relevant authorities responsible for technical regulations will review regularly those
regulations in existence according to the nature of these technical regulations to ensure theirG/TBT/2/Add.65
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consistency with the expected reasonable objectives.  This is stipulated in Article 13 of the
Standardization Law.
10. China will use relevant international standards, guidelines and recommendations as a basis for
its technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  This is stipulated in Article 4 of the
Standardization Law  and the Regulatory Measures on Adoption of International Standards
promulgated by AQSIQ.
11. China will positively consider accepting as equivalent technical regulations of other
Members.
12. China will recognize the product testing reports issued by IECCC CB laboratories.
13. China will apply the same conformity assessment procedures to both imported and domestic
products and will set up fee-charging criteria on the basis of non-profit and national treatment
principle.  Same practices and criteria of other WTO members will be consulted.  This is stipulated inArticle 4 of the Regulatory Provisions on Compulsory Product Certification.
14. Relevant authorities at the central government level that can approve and promulgate
technical regulations are as follows:  AQSIQ, State Economic and Trade Commission, Ministry of
Education, Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, Ministry of
Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Minist ry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Construction,
Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Information Industry, Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Public Health,
General Administration of Customs, State En vironmental Protection Administration, General
Administration of Civil Aviation, State Administ ration of Radio, Film and Television, State Drug
Administration and State Forestry Administration.
15. Provincial quality and technical supervision authorities and entry-exit inspection and
quarantine authorities, plus entry-exit inspection and quarantine authorities in the cities of Ningbo,
Xiamen, Zhuhai and Shenzhen are the local government level authorities to approve and promulgate
technical regulations.
16. AQSIQ and the China National Regulatory Commission for Certification and Accreditation
are the authorities to adopt and promulgate conformity assessment procedures.
VI. STANDARDS AND RELEVANT CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
17. China will apply same standards and conformity assessment procedures to both imported and
domestic products.  This is stipulated in Article 14 of the Standardization Law , Article 2 of the Law
on Product Quality  and Article 4 of the Regulatory Provisions on Compulsory Product Certification .
18. China will ensure that standards are not formulated, adopted or applied with a view to or with
the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade.
19. China will take relevant international standards, guidelines and recommendations as the basis
for standards and conformity assessment procedures.  This is stipulated in Article 4 of the
Standardization Law  and the Regulatory Measures on Adoption of International Standards.
20. China will apply same standards and conformity assessment procedures to both domestic and
imported products and will impose same fees on the basis of cost.
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