WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/27 
16 November 2009 
 (09-5658) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
EIGHTH ANNUAL TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MANDATED IN  
PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF  
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
 
 
1. This report reflects the results of the Ei ghth Annual Transitional Review mandated in 
Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of th e People's Republic of China (WT/L/432) that took 
place at the 5-6 November 2009 meeting of the Committee. 
2. In the context of the Eighth Annual Review, su bmissions were made by the United States 
(G/TBT/W/324), Japan (G/TBT/W/325) and the European Communities (G/TBT/W/326).  Issues 
raised in the US submission included:  (i) China-sp ecific telecommunications standards;  (ii) medical 
device registration;  (iii) regulations on the recal l of defective products;  and (iv) conformity 
assessment procedures.  Issues raised  in Japan's submission included:  (i) filtering software;  (ii) 
instructions on factory inspections;  (iii) restrictiv e measure without legitimate objective;  and (iv) IT 
security products.  Issues raised in  the EC submission included:  (i) transparency and predictability of 
the regulatory environment;  (ii) China Compulsory  Certification (CCC) System;  (iii) Information 
security testing and certification;  (iv) standardization;  and (v) a number of other concerns being 
raised in the framework of bilateral regulator y cooperation mechanisms between the European 
Communities and China. 
3. Submission was made by the People's Republic of China on 4 November 2009 
(G/TBT/W/327) providing information relating to A nnex 1A of WT/L/432.  The statements made at 
the meeting, where discussions under the transitiona l review took place, will be reflected in the 
minutes of the meeting, to be circulated as G/TBT/M/49. 
 
_______________ G/TBT/27 
Page 2  
 
  ATTACHMENT – EXCERPT FROM G/TBT/M/49 
 AGENDA ITEM  3:  EIGHTH ANNUAL TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MANDATED IN  PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF  THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
 
 1. The Chairman
 recalled that, in accordance with Paragra ph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of 
the People's Republic of China (WT/L/432), the TBT Committee would undertake an annual review 
for eight years of the implementati on by China of the TBT Agreement. 
2. The representative of the United States  highlighted some issues contained in his delegation's 
submission (G/TBT/W/324).  He welcomed the progress made at the 20th session of the US-China 
Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCC) on sever al issues that had been raised at previous 
TBT Committee meetings.  On information secur ity, he noted that China had confirmed the 
announcement made on 29 April 2009 by AQSIQ, MOF a nd CNCA, that the compulsory testing and 
certification rules for thirteen categories of in formation security produc ts would apply only to 
products procured by agencies of the Chinese Governme nt.  He also noted that China had agreed to 
establish a dialogue on global practices for trade in information security products.  According to the 
United States, substantial progress had also been made in the area of medical devices.  In particular, he noted that China had reassured the United Stat es that product recall regulations would not be 
duplicative or redundant, and the Ministry of H ealth and the State Food and Drug Administration 
(SFDA) would be the relevant authorities for medical  device recalls.  China had also indicated that a 
prior approval document of a medical device is sued by a foreign country would be accepted 
regardless of its origin or country of manufacture.   The representative of the United States stressed 
that, without such changes, trade in medical devi ces would have been seriously disrupted to the 
detriment of suppliers and traders, as well as Chinese hospitals, doctors and patients.  In addition, he 
said that China and the United States had agreed to strengthen cooperation on standards and 
conformity assessment procedures, and to formulat e a work plan for enhancing transparency and 
predictability in their respective regulatory systems. 
3. Notwithstanding the progress in such areas, concer ns remained about a number of issues that 
had been addressed in previous Transitional Review s, including:  favouritism toward home-grown 3G 
telecommunications standards;  lack of transparency with respect to certain measures;  and the failure 
to recognize the results of conformity assessme nt procedures conducted by accredited conformity 
assessment bodies located outside of China. 
4. The US representative noted that his delegation had significant concerns about China’s use of 
China-specific standards in the telecommunications ar ea, especially with regard to the Wireless Local 
Area Network Authentication and Privacy Infrastructur e (WAPI) standard.  He explained that China’s 
Ministry of Industry and Information Technol ogy (MIIT) had recently established a process for 
approving hand-held wireless devices such as cell phon es and smart phones that are Internet-enabled.  
In September 2009, MIIT had indicated to US gove rnment officials that devices using the relevant 
international standard (WiFi ISO/IEC 8802-11) woul d only be approved if also enabled to support the 
WAPI standard.  MIIT officials had indicated that  no published or written measure containing this 
requirement existed, and China ha d not notified this requirement to the TBT Committee.  Could China 
explain why it required that mobile handsets be WA PI-enabled, especially given that the United States 
was not aware of any other government that had mand ated a particular commercial security standard?  
Could China further explain why it mandated complia nce with a non-consensus based standard that 
did not appear to have been deve loped in an open and transparent process, when there was a relevant 
international standard, which was in widespread u se in the global marketplace?  Could China clarify 
why the WiFi standard was ineffective or inapprop riate to achieve China’s objectives?  Given that 
services and devices based on WiFi alone were widely available and legally sold in China, what was  G/TBT/27 
 Page 3 
 
 
  China’s justification for requiring t ype approval in this sub-sector of the mobile equipment market?  
And finally he asked what China’s justificati on was for not mandating these particular technical 
regulations through written and published regula tions, in an area as broad as type approval and 
network access for mobile devices in the wo rld’s leading mobile handset market?  
5. With respect to conformity assessment proce dures, the United States noted that the TBT 
Committee had developed an Indicative List of Approaches to Fac ilitate Acceptance of the Results of 
Conformity Assessment ,1 which included several approaches for accepting the results of conformity 
assessment, including test results performed by la boratories located outside the territory of the 
importing Member.  This list included use of accreditation to qualify conformity assessment bodies.  It was also recalled that there was a variety of  accreditation approaches, and that one approach 
successfully employed by several Members consiste d of the use of accreditation by International 
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutu al Recognition Arrangement (MRA) Members as 
a basis for accepting test results performed by la boratories outside the territory of the importing 
Member.  Had China considered utilizing this mech anism, or another mech anism such as government 
designation or recognition of foreign testing labor atories, as a basis for accepting test results 
performed by laboratories outside its territory, including with respect to the China Compulsory 
Certification (CCC) Mark and SFDA requirements?  In concluding, the US representative noted that a 
discussion on China's consideration of alternative approaches could be helpful especially in the 
context of the JCCT outcomes. 
6. The representative of Japan
 referred to his delegation's submission (G/TBT/W/325).  He 
noted that the "Instructions on factory inspections" intended to be referred to when conducting factory 
inspections had been uploaded on the website of  the designated certification body under the China 
Compulsory Certification (CCC) scheme.  In this re gard, China was invited to provide clarification on 
the legal relationship between such instructions and the mandatory requirements under the CCC scheme.  Japan's view was that th e instructions on factory inspection uploaded on the website of the 
certification body were for reference purposes only and did not entail any mandatory requirement.  
Could China confirm this? 
7. Japan was also concerned that China had adopted  certain national standards that appeared to 
deviate from the relevant international sta ndards, causing unnecessary confusion among foreign 
companies.  In particular, the Japanese delegati on drew the Committee's attention to the voluntary 
national standard for labeling GB/T 191:2008, in which the calculation method for maximum 
allowance of piling up of cardboard boxes differed from the relevant in ternational standard.  Although 
GB/T 191:2008 was a voluntary standard, China made a reference to it in its mandatory standard 
GB 5296.2:2008.  Therefore, Japan's vi ew was that GB/T 191:2008 constituted a de facto  mandatory 
standard.  According to Article 2.5 of the TBT Agreement, Japan requested China to explain the 
justification for referring to this national sta ndard and the objective sought.  China was also 
encouraged to align this standard with the relevant international st andard, according to Article 2.4 of 
the TBT Agreement.  Finally, the representative of Japa n noted that concerns remained with regard to 
the Chinese regulations mandating certification on IT Security Products, and those had been 
addressed under the Specific Trade Concerns part of the Agenda. 
8. The representative of the European Communities
 highlighted some points in his delegation's 
submission (G/TBT/W/326), and noted that this document identified areas where progress had been made as well as areas where concerns remained.  Nevertheless, he expressed satisfaction with the well 
functioning regulatory dialogue between China and the European Communities. 
9. The European Communities welcomed efforts ma de by China in the field of good regulatory 
practice and highlighted the significant increase in the frequency of public calls for comments.  The 
                                                     
 
1 G/TBT/1/Rev.9, Annexes to Part 1, Section A. G/TBT/27 
Page 4  
 
  importance of ensuring transparency in the re gulatory process both in the development and 
enforcement of regulations was emphasized.  Likewi se, the importance of ensuring that all existing 
requirements which economic operators needed to comply with be made publicly available was 
stressed.  In China this did not appear to be th e case in all sectors and significant differences existed 
for regulations under the responsibility of differe nt Ministries.  The European Communities was 
particularly concerned about existing practices  in the ICT area, where various mandatory 
requirements had been introduced without being notif ied to the TBT Committee or even without prior 
internal notice.  In particular, the EC representative referred to several concerns previously raised in 
the Committee, such as the WAPI st andard, the green dam internet filter, and the unified charger for 
mobile phones.  China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) was therefore 
invited to reconsider its practices in accordance with the transparency provisions under the TBT 
Agreement.  China was also encour aged to systematically use regulatory impact assessment tools, at 
least in those cases where regulations had a signifi cant impact on international trade.  It was the 
European Communities' view that the introducti on of Regulatory Impact Assessments could help 
achieving a better balance between the legitimate regu latory objectives pursued and the need to keep 
the level of regulation proportionate to the risk s to be managed.  The European Communities was 
willing to share experience with China on its own Regulatory Impact Assessments. 
10. The EC representative noted his delegation's concer n with regard to the level of regulation in 
China.  He noted that the Chin ese approach, based on a systematic use of standards combined with 
third party conformity assessment, was a cumbersome  system especially for Small and Medium-sized 
Enterprises (SMEs) exporting to China without a direct presence in the country.  In this context, he 
reiterated concern about the Chinese Compulsory Ce rtification (CCC) system, which was detailed in 
the EC submission and had been previously raised in the Committee.  Despite  some positive steps, the 
CCC system remained a major obstacle for foreign companies exporting to China.  In particular, 
China was invited to review the “one size fits all” approach based on co mprehensive third-party 
testing and factory audits, which assigned the same high level of risk to all products within the CCC 
scope, despite their different health and safety risk s levels.  It was the EC delegation's view that 
alternative approaches had to be considered by Chin a, such as Supplier's Declaration of Conformity 
for low-risk products, for instance low voltage a nd ICT products.  A choice between quality assurance 
and product verification conformity assessment modul es needed to be offered where third-party 
assessment was required.   
11. The European Communities joined the United States and Japan in requesting that China 
provide wider acceptance of foreign test results and explain what mechanisms were in place or were 
being considered in order to facilitate the acceptance of foreign test results.  In the meantime, the EC 
representative invited China to give positive cons ideration to the proposals for short-term 
simplification of certain aspects of the current CCC system, as outlined in the EC submission 
G/TBT/W/326 and in the submission made on the occasion of the previous Triennial Review.
2  On the 
same topic, the European Communities also noted th at China maintained an overly detailed regulation 
in specific sectors, such as th e mobile phones area.  There was al so a tendency to regulate qualitative 
aspects of products that in most economies were in stead left to the market, as for instance in the 
textile field with regard to colour fasteners. 
12. The European Communities raised another concern with regard to the need for better internal 
regulatory coordination between Chinese Ministries or  agencies having regulatory powers.  It was the 
EC delegation's view that competition between Ministries or agencies over regulating the same 
product arose in a number of cases and resulted in the creation of multiple and partially overlapping 
requirements.  Examples of this situation, such  as the information security case and the certification 
procedures for ICT equipments, had already been raised under the Specific Trade Concerns item of 
                                                      
 2 G/TBT/W/300.  G/TBT/27 
 Page 5 
 
 
  the Agenda.  In this regard, China was invited to explain whether it intended to develop more 
effective internal regulator y coordination mechanisms. 
13. In the area of standardization, the Europ ean Communities welcomed the announcement made 
by the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) in January 2009, that foreign-owned companies established in China would be allowe d to participate as voting members in technical 
committees responsible for the promulgation of na tional standards, pending the approval of the 
technical committee's Chairman.  The European Co mmunities further encourag ed China to ensure 
effective access of foreign-owned companies to dom estic standardization work, including with regard 
to the so-called industry standards.  On the same topic, the EC representa tive also noted that, on 
several occasions, a number of Chinese standards de viated from international standards without any 
explanation being given that the relevant internatio nal standards were inappropriate or ineffective.  
Standards on wine and in the ICT fiel d were examples of this situation.  China was urged to limit such 
deviations to justified cases and provide justifications for devi ations in all the other cases. 
14. The European Communities reverted to various c oncerns which had been raised at previous 
triennial reviews, but that had not been addressed yet.  A common feature of these concerns was that problems often arose from a regulatory approach that appeared to depart from international practice.  
Regarding the ICT field, the EC delegate echoed the concerns expressed by the United States on the 
proliferation of home-grown 3G telecommuni cations standards featuring unique Chinese 
technologies.  China was encouraged to continue working with the international standardization 
community, rather than developing specific nationa l standards.  This w ould benefit all economic 
operators including China, which could take advantage of the best technology available.  In the 
mobile phone area, concerns also remained about th e systematic black listing of certain features of 
products, which prevented innovative products fro m being placed on the Chinese market.   
15. With regard to the automotive sector, the Eu ropean Communities encouraged China to join 
the United Nations 1958 Agreement on Motor Vehi cles under the Economic Commission for Europe 
(UNECE).   
16. With regard to active pharmaceutical ingredient s, the EC delegation reiterated concerns about 
the routine multi-sampling and testing practice mandated for each imported batch of active 
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) imported in China.   China was encouraged to intensify cooperation 
on quality assurance and Good Manufacturing Practices which could lead to mutual acceptance of 
quality certificates.  On pharmaceutical products, th e European Communities noted that registration 
periods in China could take three years or even more, due to a number of cumbersome, lengthy and 
costly requirements relating in particular to clini cal trial approvals.  China was therefore invited to 
expedite work towards the simplification of the clinical trial process, and develop practices compatible with those developed by the Intern ational Conference on Harmonisation of Technical 
Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). 
17. Furthermore, the European Communities repres entative expressed concerns with respect to 
the lengthy pre-market approval procedures for non-speci al use imported cosmetics.  In particular, he 
requested China to unify the notification system fo r imported and domestic non-special use cosmetics.  
However, the European Communities considered the simplification of procedures to be only a first 
step towards lifting all ex-ante approvals for impor ted cosmetics.  China was also requested to 
develop a single hygiene standard for cosmetics that would replace the two standards separately 
enforced by the Ministry of Health on one hand, and the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on the other. 
18. Regarding medical devices, concerns remain ed on duplicative mandatory pre-registration 
requirements enforced by SFDA and AQSIQ.  The EC representative reiterated his delegation's 
request to China to treat new or fully refurbished medical devices alike, since the existing ban did not G/TBT/27 
Page 6  
 
  appear to be justified on health and safety grounds .  China was encouraged to provide an update on 
the work under way with regard to this issue. 
19. On textiles, concerns remained about the deviati ons from international standards in relation to 
import checks.  China was invited to consider replacing systematic checks by batch with random 
checks, and to accept importers self-declarations of conformity based on tests carried out by international accredited laboratories.  China w as also encouraged to simplify the labelling 
requirements for textiles and footwear products.  In this regard, the proposal on textile labelling 
submitted in the context of the NAMA NTB negotiations,
3 was seen by the European Communities as 
an example that could inspire a simplification of the Chinese requirements.  
20. In concluding, the EC delegate requested China to provide an update on the state of play of 
the on-going revision of Regulations for Environmental Management on the First Import of 
Chemicals and the Import and Export of Toxic Chemicals . 
21. The representative of China  referred to her delegation' s submission (G/TBT/W/327) 
providing information related to Annex 1A of WT /L/432.  In respect of the comments on China's 
implementation of the TBT Agreement's transparen cy provisions, the representative of China noted 
that, to date, her delegation ha d made 695 TBT notifications, providing in each case a sixty day 
comment period and copies of full texts of notif ied measures upon request.  Moreover, it was normal 
practice to extended this period upon a Member's request.  The Chinese representative said China was 
an active participant in the Committee's work on tr ansparency and information exchange and would 
continue this engagement. 
22. Regarding information security testing and cer tification, the representative of China noted 
that information had already been provided under the Agenda item of Specific Trade Concerns.  
However, her delegation would neve rtheless provide clarification on the existing relationship between 
information security testing and certification a nd the encryption codes regulation system.  In 
particular, the Chinese delegate recalled that, among th e thirteen products which needed to obtain the 
information security product certification, six of them contained encryption technology.  These six 
products were therefore required to pass the detec tion tests for encryption codes, in accordance with 
China’s policy on the regulation of commercial encryp tion codes.  It was further clarified that the 
State Encryption Administration Authorities (SEAA) we re responsible for the testing of encryption 
codes, while the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China 
(CNCA) was responsible for the product certification.   The representative of  China emphasized that 
the current regulation on Commercial Encrypti on Codes had been enacted in 1999 and was 
functioning.  However, to better adapt to late development of information technology, China was 
considering revising this regula tion and had started investigation and research.  Comments and 
suggestions by Members were welcomed by China in this regard. 
23. In respect of the implementation of the CCC sy stem, the representative of China noted that 
improvements were continuously bei ng made.  In the current revision of the implementation rules of 
the CCC scheme, China was committed to simplify th e procedure, mitigate the burden of enterprises 
and further revise the parts and components report procedure and unit division.  It was also stressed that interested parties, such as EuropElectro , were closely involved in the process of revision.  In this 
regard, China welcomed any suggestions from Member s and interested stakeholders and was ready to 
continue the cooperation with the European Communities. 
24. In respect of the comments on China's conformity assessment procedures, it was emphasized 
that the regulations on Certification and Accred itation and on Management of Compulsive Product 
Certification clearly indicated how to accredit the certification bodies and laboratories to undertake 
                                                     
 
3 TN/MA/W/93/Rev.1.  G/TBT/27 
 Page 7 
 
 
  CCC certification.  It was also recalled that th e CCC system recognized the CB reports within the 
scope of the IECEE/CB scheme.  The Chinese re presentative explained that the International 
Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) was th e cooperative organization of the laboratory 
accreditation agencies, and the ILAC Mutual Rec ognition Arrangement (MRA) was the key technical 
base for mutual recognition between China and other countries. 
25. In respect of the comments raised by Japan on "Instructions on factory inspections", China 
confirmed that these documents were only intended to facilitate factory inspection operations and did 
not impose any mandatory requirement. 
26. Regarding the relationship between standa rds GB/T 191-2008 and GB 5296.2 2008, the 
representative of China explained that according to Article 5.2.5 of GB 5296. 2 2008:  "the products 
with special requirements in the process of transportation and stor age should be labelled with the 
graphic signs and according with the provisions of GB/T 191-2008".  She noted that, as the only Chinese recommended standard to regulate the graphi c signs of package, transportation and storage, 
GB/T 191-2008 was quoted in GB 5296.2-2008, with  the aim of protecting consumers and helping 
enterprises to harmonize their operations. 
27. On the subject of standardization, the Chinese de legate emphasized that all the foreign-funded 
enterprises legally registered in China could partic ipate in standardization activities, and all foreign-
funded enterprises could participate in the revisi on activities of China’s recommended standards as 
observers.  With regard to the questions on natio nal deviations from international standards, the 
Chinese delegation noted that China's deviations  were necessary in light of geographical and 
technological differences.  Regarding the comments on the maximum sulphur dioxide levels in wines, 
the representative of China noted that informati on had already been provided under the Agenda item 
on Specific Trade Concerns. 
28.  Regarding the concern raised by the Eur opean Communities on voluntary standards rendered 
mandatory through conformity assessment proce dures, the Chinese delegate recalled that the 
recommended standards were voluntary standards but became binding once incorporated into a 
mandatory act. 
29. With regard to the use of the WAPI standa rd, the representative of China noted that the 
Chinese operators decided that the WLAN network and relevant equipment would support both WAPI 
and ISO/IEC 8802-11 standards.  This was to en sure the safe operation of network and businesses, 
and provide the users with safer and more relia ble wireless wideband communication services.  
Mobile phones meeting the requirements and s upporting both WAPI and ISO/IEC 8802-11 standards 
were allowed to enter the WLAN network.  In this regard, it was also recalled that MIIT had launched 
a pilot programme of network access for WAPI and ISO/IEC 8802-11 dual-mode mobile phones.  
Enterprises were free to apply for participation in th is program.  So far, more than thirty types of 
mobile phones had passed the test.  China would con tinue to improve work related to the management 
of network access of mobile phone in light of the progress of the pilot programme and market 
demand.  It was China's view that the WAPI standard did not deviate from the ISO/IEC 8802-11 
standard, it was rather a supplement that enhanced the latter.  It was also recalled that China had 
submitted the WAPI standard to the Internati onal Organization for Standardization (ISO) for 
recognition as an international standard. 
30. Regarding the draft measure on Medical Device s Registration Administration Method, China 
reassured Members that it would be notified in due time. 
31. Regarding the comments raised by Japan  on the Chinese measure notified under 
G/TBT/N/CHN/426, the Chinese representative noted  that a sixty day comment period had been G/TBT/27 
Page 8  
 
  provided but comments had not been received from Me mbers.  It was stressed that China had fully 
fulfilled its transparency obliga tions under the TBT Agreement. 
32. Finally, the representative of China drew the Committee's attention to a question from one 
Member regarding measures "without legitimate obj ectives". China strongly refuted the premise of 
this statement and recalled that the measure at i ssue had been notified to the TBT Committee in 2008 
(G/TBT/N/CHN/426), and that no comments had been  received even though 60 days had been 
provided.  The reason for the notification had been because of a deviation from certain international 
standards and China was, in this regard, in fu ll compliance with its obligations under the TBT 
Agreement.  In addition, it was noted that there w as still no definition of an international standard on 
which Members could agree.  Therefore, in reply to other Members' comments, the representative of 
China doubted that there existed a de finition of international practice. 
33. The Committee adopted
 its report of the Eight Annual Transitional Review (G/TBT/27).  
 
__________