WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/24 
14 November 2008 
 (08-5572) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  
  
 
SEVENTH 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 Seve nth 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 2008 meeting of the Committee. 
2. In the context of the Seventh Annual Review, submissions were made by the United States 
(G/TBT/W/292), Japan (G/TBT/W/293) and the European Communities (G/TBT/W/300).  Questions 
raised included the following elements:  informat ion security testing and certification;  China's 
conformity assessment procedures, including the CCC mark system;  the administration of the control of pollution caused by electronic information products;  China's registration system for environmental management on the import and export of toxic chemi cals;  transparency an d predictability in the 
Chinese regulatory environment;  China's standardi zation activities, including the participation of 
foreign-owned companies established in China in domestic standardization activities, implementation 
of international standards and compulsory ve rsus voluntary standards;  ICT products;  
pharmaceuticals;  automobiles;  cosmetics;  medical devices; and textiles. 
3. Submission was made by the People's Republic of China on 4 November 2008 
(G/TBT/W/296) 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/46 (excerpt attached). 
 
 
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 G/TBT/24 
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  ATTACHMENT – EXCERPT FROM G/TBT/M/46 
 AGENDA ITEM  4:  SEVENTH ANNUAL TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MANDATED IN  PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF AC CESSION 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 implementation 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/292).  He recalled that durin g the current TBT Committee meeting, the United 
States had raised two substantive issues (informati on security and excessive packaging) with respect 
to Chinese measures under the Specific Trade Concerns part of the agenda (Part IIB of G/TBT/M/46).  
In addition to these concerns, the United States re quested an update from China on several systemic 
issues which the United States had been following fo r some time. First, could China explain whether 
it had any plans to allow foreign laboratories to  be accredited to conduct testing for mandatory CCC 
mark certification?  Second, could China expl ain whether it was considering the adoption of a 
supplier's declaration of conformity (SDoC) fo r any products covered under the existing CCC mark 
system?  Third, could China explain whether fore ign stakeholders could be voting members on the 
technical committees of Chinese Standards bodies? 
3. The representative of Japan  referred to his delegation's submission (G/TBT/W/293). He noted 
that conformity assessment bodies of foreign countries had not been allowed to engage in certification 
activities in China according to the Article 9 and Artic le 13 of the regulations of the People's Republic 
of China on Certification and Accreditation, pe rmitting only Chinese conformity assessment bodies 
(CABs) to conduct such activities. No foreign CAB had yet been allowed to engage in certification 
activities under the CCC mark system. Pursuant to the provision in Article 6.4 of the TBT Agreement 
and the commitment in Paragraph 195 of the Report of  the Working Party on the Accession of China, 
Japan requested that local foreign-owned CABs, as well as foreign-based CABs, could be engaged in 
certification activities under the CCC mark system without discrimination.  
4. In respect of administration of the control of pollution caused by electronic information 
products, Japan noted that article 3.3.4 of the Re gulation prohibited "the import of electronic and 
information products that do not meet the national or  industrial standards pertaining to the restriction 
of hazardous substances in electronic and informa tion products".  Since it was difficult for Japanese 
companies to understand from this text which were th e standards that had to be met, Japan requested 
China to specify and provide a list of the standards refe rred to in this article.  It was noted that at the 
last TRM session, China had replied that they were preparing the test standard and that if the future 
IEC standard would be practical for China, they w ould follow that standard.  Japan requested China to 
make the objectives of the standard clear and prom ote it adequately according to Article 2.4 of the 
TBT Agreement which requires Members to use releva nt international standards as a basis for their 
technical regulations.  
5. Japan noted that it continued to have con cerns about China's registration system for 
environmental management on the import and e xport of toxic chemicals. The Chinese State 
Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had released a revision of "Highly Restricted Imported and 
Exported Toxic Chemicals" on 28 December 2005; it had gone into effect on 1 January 2006.  A total 
of 158 chemicals had recently been added to the revi sed list of toxic chemicals, some of which were 
widely used in the chemicals industry.  The "Re gulations System for Environmental Management in 
the Initial Imports of Chemical Products and th e Import and Export of Toxic Chemicals" ("the 
System") requires companies to pay US$10,000 to SEPA  in order to obtain a Registration Certificate  G/TBT/24 
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  for exporting to China the chemicals on the list.  It was pointed out that the Registration Certificate 
was valid for two years per contract. Japan asked how China would deal with the System after the 
expiration of the two-year period.  At the last TRM session, China had replied that stakeholders from 
abroad could participate in the revision process.  At  the last TBT meeting held in July 2008, China 
had answered that this process was still under revi ew. Japan requested more information about the 
status of the revision. 
6. In respect of the notified Chinese technical regul ations related to information security testing 
and certification, Japan shared the view of the Un ited States raised at the last China TRM session.  
7. The representative of the European Communities  highlighted some points in his delegation's 
submission (G/TBT/W/300), noting that this docum ent also identified other areas where concerns 
remained, as well as areas where progress had been  made.  Some issues raised under the Specific 
Trade Concerns part of the agenda (Part IIB of G/ TBT/M/46) were also related to the TRM exercise.  
8. The European Communities welcomed efforts ma de by China in the field of good regulatory 
practice and noted the significant increase in the fre quency of public calls for comments. In this 
regard China was invited to provide an adequate  period in which interested parties could make 
comments. China was also urged to systematically give public written notice of any regulatory change 
and to establish a single official journal for publishing all the regulations and other measures 
pertaining to or affecting trade in goods. It was also important to provide a reasonable interval 
between the publication of technical regulations, incl uding when they took the form of compulsory 
standards, and their entry into force in order for economic operators to adap t, in accordance with the 
provisions of the TBT Agreement. The European Communities welcomed the unification of testing 
procedures for eight types of medical devices which had previously been subject to separate approval 
procedures managed by AQSIQ and SFDA; he hoped th at this would serve as an example for other 
situations where double or even triple testing o ccurred, such as the case for telecom equipment.  
9. It was noted that concerns relating to the Ch inese Compulsory Certification System (the CCC 
mark system) had been addressed under the Specific Tr ade Concerns part of the agenda (Part IIB of 
G/TBT/M/46).  
10. In the area of standards, the European Co mmunities reiterated its call for foreign owned 
companies established in China to be allowed to pa rticipate in the work of domestic standardization 
processes on an equal footing to Chinese owned stake holders. This was all the more important given 
the peculiar features of the Chinese regulatory system in which most technical regulations took the form of so called "compulsory standards"; the lack  of access to the activities of Chinese standardizing 
bodies effectively excluded foreign stakeholders from a crucial activity in the regulatory process.  
11. The representative of the European Communities emphasized his delegation's concerns in the 
area of ICT products, in partic ular: favouring home-grown standards featuring unique Chinese 
technologies;  overly detailed standardization of mobile phone features and components; difficulties 
in placing on the Chinese market innovative produc ts with multimode capabilities; and, multiple and 
partially overlapping certification procedur es managed by different authorities.  
12. In the automotive sector, the Eu ropean Communities continued to have concerns about the 
continuous broadening and deepening of CCC cer tification as applied to automotive components 
regulations.  The European Communities was of the vi ew that the goals of regulating safety, health, 
and environmental concerns with respect to moto r vehicles could be achieved through harmonization 
under the United Nations 1958 Agreement on Motor Vehicles (under the Economic Commission for 
Europe, UNECE).  Thus, the European Communities urged China to become a Contracting Party to 
this Agreement, and also work to eliminate duplica tive, costly and burdensome inspections and testing 
under China’s unique CCC certification and marking system. G/TBT/24 
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  13. In the area of pharmaceuticals, the issue of active pharmaceutical ingredients remained of 
concern to the European Communities given rou tine multi-sampling and testing practices mandated 
for each imported batch of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) by SFDA regulations.  Also on pharmaceuticals, the European Comm unities requested China to consider taking measures to reduce 
the current abnormally long clinical trial approval pe riods.  Another source of concern related to the 
National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL); it was the understanding of th e European Communities 
that the list had not been updated since 2004. Since only products on the list could be reimbursed, failure to update it put more recent and innovative drugs at a competitive disadvantage. The European 
Communities urged China to ensure the r egular and systematic update of the NDRL. 
14. In respect of cosmetics, the European Comm unities recalled concerns about the approval 
procedures in place for imported and domestic non-speci al use cosmetics and reiterated its request to 
Chinese authorities to u nify the current notification system. The European Communities also recalled 
its request for MoH and AQSIQ to develop a single h ygiene standard for cosmetics that would replace 
the two standards that were being separately enfo rced by the Ministry of Health (the Hygiene 
Standard for Cosmetics 2007) and AQSIQ (the al ready outdated Standard for Cosmetics GB 7916-
1987), issued in 1987 . 
15. In the field of medical devices, the European Co mmunities referred to the concerns raised at 
the Committee's last TRM exerci se regarding duplicative mandatory (re-)registration requirements 
enforced by SFDA and AQSIQ offering no additional safety benefit for patients and users.  The 
European Communities also recalle d concerns about the registration procedures and the need for 
providing an equal level playing fi eld for refurbished medical devices as compared to new medical 
devices.  The European Communities was of the vi ew that the ban on refurbished products was not 
justified on health and safety grounds  
16. Concerning textiles, the European Communities re ferred to previously raised concerns about 
the compulsory certification of silk quality and labelling requirements.  The European Communities 
also joined Japan in requesting a review of China's toxic chemicals legislation.  
17. The representative of China
 referred to his delegation's submissions (G/TBT/W/296) 
providing information relating to Annex 1A of WT /L/432.  In respect of the comments from the 
European Communities regarding China's implemen tation of the TBT Agreement's transparency 
provisions, China noted that his delegation attached great importance to transparency. To date, China 
had made nearly 500 TBT notifications and provi ded a 60 day comment period on a regular basis. 
Moreover, it was usual practice to extended this period upon a Member's re quest, and written replies 
to Members' comments were also provided on re quest. In this regard, China asked Members, 
especially certain developed country Members, to al so implement their transparency obligations in 
good faith.  
18. In respect of the implementation of CCC certification for security products (paragraph 5(a) of 
US submission and paragraph 16 of EC submis sion), the representative of China noted that 
clarification and information had already been pr ovided under the agenda item of Specific Trade 
Concerns (Part IIB of G/TBT/M/46). 
19. In respect of the draft Amendment to Regul ations on Compulsory Product Certification 
(paragraph 6 of the US submission), it was noted that  major changes had been made in the following 
areas: changes to the sampling approach in product type-test; an administrative system based on type 
of products and enterprises; inspection of certified products and enterprises by certification authorities 
had been established; and, a product recall provision had been added.  
20. Regarding permission for foreign laboratori es to be accredited to conduct testing for 
mandatory CCC certification (paragraph 7 of the US  submission, Section 1 of Japan's submission and  G/TBT/24 
 Page 5 
 
 
  paragraph 13 of EC's submission), the representativ e of China said that the CCC certification system 
had been actively involved in multilateral and mutual  recognition of testing and certification promoted 
by the TBT Agreement.  In accord ance with the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on 
Certification and Accreditation, foreign certifi cation bodies' qualification for CCC certification could 
only be acquired through inter-government agreem ents, agreements recognised by the Chinese 
Government or agreements with competent author ities of the Chinese Government. So far, China had 
signed 20 agreements with agencies or certifica tion bodies from 15 countries or regions which cover, 
for example, factory inspection and the recognition of certification or testing results.  
21. Regarding the adoption of Supplier's Declara tion of Conformity (SDoC) under the CCC  
mark system (paragraph 8 of US submission), th e first priority was to establish whether the 
conformity assessment approach adopted was ca pable of effectively achieving the legitimate 
objectives of guaranteeing product safety and protecting consumer interests. China was of the view 
that the use of SDoC for products  covered under the CCC system would not achieve the same level of 
confidence as that achieved by the CCC system, taki ng into account the special  needs of the Chinese 
market.  
22. Regarding the administration of the control of pollution caused by electronic information 
products (Section 1 of Japan's submission), the repre sentative of China noted that relevant standards 
and technical requirements were unde r development and Japan was encouraged to make a request  for 
information through the TBT enquiry point and other channels.  
23. Regarding China's registration system for the environmental management on the import and 
export of toxic chemicals (Section 3 of Japan's submission), China informed the Committee that it 
was revising its State Council Regulation on Dangerous  Chemicals.  The revision of the registration 
system for toxic chemicals would follow thereafter.  
24. Regarding EC comments on standardization (paragraph 23 to 35 of EC submission), China 
noted that standardization activities in China were c onsistent with the TBT Agreement.  He also noted 
that given the late formal submission by the European Communities, some communications had 
already taken place before the meeting or under other agenda items.   
25. The Chairperson  thanked all delegations for their st atements and the Committee adopted its 
report to the Council for Trade in Goods (G/TBT/24). 
 
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