. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/W/325 
26 October 2009 
 (09-5280) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM PURSUANT TO SECTION 18  OF THE 
PROTOCOL ON THE ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  
 
Questions and Comments from Japan to China
 
  
 The following communication, dated 22 October 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Japan
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 I. FILTERING SOFTWARE 
1. China decided to mandate the installation of th e Green Dam software on all computers sold in 
China effective 1 July 2009.  We have serious concern regarding this i ssue because the Green Dam 
raises significant questions of security and system  reliability, and because computer makers have no 
choice to select filtering software other than  Green Dam.  Although China announced the 
postponement of the issue in June, we would like to offer China to make this measure not trade 
restrictive than necessary after exhaustive discussions with related countries.  For example, we request 
China to give the freedom of choice of the filte ring software both to consumer and to computer 
makers.  
II. INSTRUCTIONS ON FACTORY INSPECTIONS 
2. On the website of the designated certification body under the China Compulsory Certification 
(CCC) scheme, "Instructions on factory inspections",  which are intended to be referred to when 
conducting factory inspections, has been uploaded.  We would like to confirm the relation between 
such instructions and the mandatory requirement (p rovision of certification) of CCC in terms of legal 
status. 
3. Concerning the mandatory requirements of CCC, our understanding is as follows:  according 
to Article 4 of the ‘Regulation on Compulsory Pr oduct Certification’ (AQSIQ No. 117), ‘the state 
shall unify the mandatory requirement of technica l standards’.  Therefore we understand that the 
mandatory requirement shall be provided by the statem ent of the state.  Thus, our view is that the 
‘Instructions on factory inspections ’ uploaded on the website of the certification body is just a 
reference and it does not prescribe the mandatory requirement (provision of certification).  If 
‘Instructions on factory inspecti ons’ intends to prescribe the mandatory requirement of CCC, the 
instruction shall be published by the state a nd shall not be uploaded on the website of each 
certification body based on the its own decision.  In addition to these points, if the state publishes the 
mandatory requirement, the state shall have a tran sitional period before enforcement and notify all 
WTO Members of this, according to the Article 2.9 of the Agreement before enforcement. 
4. We would like to know the Chinese view about the relation between mandatory requirement 
and ‘Instructions on factory inspec tions’ in terms of legal status. G/TBT/W/325 
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  III. RESTRICTIVE MEASURE WITHOUT LEGITIMATE OBJECTIVE 
5. With respect to the Logistics issue, Japa n acknowledged that China unnecessarily adopts the 
national standard which differs from the correspondi ng international standard  and it subsequently 
gives rise to the needless confusio n among distribution companies. 
6. Concretely speaking, in the certain manda tory standard, GB5296.2:2008, China refers 
GB/T191:2008, voluntary national standard of la beling in which calculation method for maximum 
allowance of piling up of cardboard box differs from international st andard, and thus it results in 
unnecessarily confuses among distributors who expor t to other countries which adopts the 
international standards and to China,  which adopts the different standard. 
7. Although GB/T191:2008 itself may literally be a volu ntary standard, Japan is of the view that 
it must be, in fact, also regarded as mandatory st andard as far as being referred in another certain 
mandatory standard and therefore, according to th e Article 2.5 of the TBT Agreement, Japan request 
China to explain its legitimate objective and rati onality of making GB/T191: 2008 referred in another 
standard.  Moreover, according to the Article 2.4 of the Agreement, Japan also request China to align 
this standard with the corresponding international standard. 
IV. IT SECURITY PRODUCTS 
8. With respect to the proposed regulations ma ndating certification on IT security products, 
Japan appreciates China obliging to dialogue with its Trade partners as well as its efforts such as the 
postponement of its implementation. 
9. However, Japan is still concerned about the sch eme and believes this regulation substantially 
goes beyond global norms concerning the certificati on of IT security products.  Although China has 
stated that such compulsory certification will only apply to government procur ement and thus is not 
within the scope of the TBT Agreement, Japan is concerned that the regulations could be actually 
applied to commercial areas that are subject to the TBT Agreement due to the lack of clarity in the 
scope of government procurement in China.  Japan requests China to clarify the accurate scope that 
will be subject to the regulations  and to satisfy the Trade Partners’ concerns by following global 
norms including those regarding the certification of information security products.   
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