Certification and Accreditation Administration, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, State Administration for Industry and Commerce and Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Administration of the Examination, Approval, Registration and Regulation of Certification Institutions, Certification Training Institutions and Certification Consulting Institutions Measures

Promulgated: April 2 2002
Effective: May 1 2002
Interpreting authority: Certification and Accreditation Administration, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, State Administration for Industry and Commerce and Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation
Applicability: For the purposes of the Measures, "certification institutions" means business institutions that conduct certification on products, services and management systems in accordance with technology regulations and standards; "certification training institutions" means business institutions that conduct training for certification valuators, certification inspectors, certification consultants, internal valuators and other certification related professionals; "certification consulting institutions" means business institutions that provide certification-related consulting services (Article 2).

Main contents: The Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) has the authority to approve the establishment of certification institutions, certification training institutions and certification consulting institutions and the PRC resident offices of their foreign counterparts. CNCA may authorize the provincial quality technical supervision bureaux and the centrally-administered exit and entry inspection and quarantine bureaux under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) to examine applications for establishment of such institutions (Article 5). Certification institutions, certification training institutions and certification consulting institutions may be established with foreign investment (including investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan investors) provided the registered capital is no less than US$350,000, the foreign party's qualifications are recognized by its home country and the foreign party has at least three years of relevant service experience. Certification institutions, certification training institutions and certification consulting institutions in which the foreign party has a controlling interest will not be approved before December 11 2003 and in the case of wholly foreign-owned ones they will not be approved before December 11 2005 (Articles 15 and 35). Foreign certification institutions, certification training institutions and certification consulting institutions may set up resident offices in the PRC pursuant to the Measures set out in the Measures (Part Six).