Exclusive Interpretation of the Revision of the Standardization Law and the Reform of the Corporate Product Standard Disclosure System

The reform of the enterprise standard management system is one of the important reform measures by the State Council to promote fair market competition and maintain normal market order. In March this year, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council published the "Standardization Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft for Public Comment)", which proposed a self-declaration and disclosure system for enterprise standards. To establish such a system, three questions need to be addressed: first, who discloses; second, what to disclose; and third, how to disclose—that is, the subject, content, and channels of disclosure must be clarified.

The legal obligation of enterprises to disclose product standard information is the driving force behind this system. In the revision of the "Standardization Law", enterprises have been unshackled and freed from restrictions; corporate product standards no longer need to be filed, but are now disclosed through self-declaration. Establishing the disclosure of enterprise product standards as a legal obligation is the first fundamental element for the implementation of this system.

Enterprises are the subjects implementing the public disclosure of product standard information, and disclosing enterprise product standard information is a legal obligation of enterprises. In the closed loop of the system's operation, legal obligation is the fuse that drives enterprises to disclose online. Only after this fuse is ignited can the subsequent social participation come in and the pressure brought by market competition emerge. Under the dual drive of legal obligation and market pressure, the primary responsibility for disclosing enterprise product standard information will continue to be implemented. It can be seen that once the system matures, the role of legal obligations will relatively diminish, while the driving force brought by market competition will become increasingly strong. However, in the early stage of the system's establishment, it must be stipulated that enterprises have the obligation to disclose their product standard information. Only after product standards enter the market can the system operate under the impetus of market rules. Therefore, the legal obligation of enterprises to disclose product standard information is the driving force behind this system. In the revision of the "Standardization Law", enterprises have been unshackled and freed from restrictions; corporate product standards no longer need to be filed, but are now disclosed through self-declaration. Establishing the disclosure of enterprise product standards as a legal obligation is the first fundamental element for the implementation of this system.

In the revision of the Standardization Law, it must be made clear that enterprises bear responsibility for the compliance of publicly disclosed product standards, as well as responsibility for the consequences of implementing those product standards. This is the second fundamental element of the implementation of the system.

Publicly disclosed enterprise product standards must accurately and completely describe the quality characteristics of the enterprise's products. As for guaranteeing the completeness and accuracy of disclosed content, from the perspective of the overall system design, it is hoped that through the continuous operation of market rules, the principal role of enterprises will be implemented, enabling enterprises to continuously improve themselves. At the same time, through various means—such as establishing industry models and formulating disclosure guidelines—guidance should be strengthened to raise the level of completeness and accuracy of disclosed standards as high as possible. Using the text in a standard to express the quality characteristics a product possesses will always be incomplete, so the improvement of product standard information is a continuous process that evolves with the growth of consumer purchasing power and the improvement of enterprises' product quality management capabilities. In this improvement process, two responsibilities must be fulfilled: First, enterprises must bear the responsibility for compliance of disclosed standards, meaning that the acts and content of an enterprise's disclosure of standard information must comply with national laws, regulations, and mandatory standards. Second, enterprises must bear the responsibility of the disclosed standards as an express guarantee of their product quality, that is, the products produced and sold by the enterprise must conform to the product standard information publicly disclosed by the enterprise. The clarification of these two responsibilities conforms to the basic legal principle of commercial self-responsibility. Only by implementing these two can the "out-of-bounds" standards publicly disclosed by enterprises be effectively eliminated, and exaggerated or fabricated indicative indicators as well as non-compliant standard content can be removed through the social supervision system and market regulation system, forming a top-down pressure. At the same time, enterprises' product standards need to be "forced upward." While fully giving enterprises the leading role in the form and content of disclosed standards, social professional institutions and consumer organizations should be mobilized to "comment critically" on the product standards disclosed by enterprises, using the market to drive enterprises to improve product quality and refine product standards, creating a driving force for continuous improvement. Under the combined effect of social supervision pressure and market competition drive, the saturation of product standard information disclosed by enterprises relative to product quality characteristics will become increasingly high, and product standards will increasingly align with product quality characteristics; in other words, both the completeness of the product standard structure and the scientific nature of its content will more closely approach the characteristics of the product itself. This is both an important foundation for the implementation of the system and an inevitable result of its implementation. In the revision of the Standardization Law, it must be made clear that enterprises bear responsibility for the compliance of publicly disclosed product standards, as well as responsibility for the consequences of implementing those product standards. This is the second fundamental element of the implementation of the system.

In the revision of the Standardization Law, the uniformity and notarial nature of the public service platform for enterprise product standard information must be clarified. This is the third fundamental element of the implementation of the system.

Public enterprise product standards should be made available through a third-party platform with notarial capability. A unified platform is crucial to the implementation of the system. First, convenience. To enable the whole society to participate in the operation and improvement of the system and to carry out activities for obtaining, comparing, and using enterprise product standards, it must be possible for consumers—as well as industry peers—to obtain them very conveniently. So how can they be obtained conveniently? A unified portal is best, with multi-channel links encouraged. Second, notarization. Another major function of the platform's public disclosure of enterprise product standards is notarization. To implement the principal responsibility of enterprises, safeguard consumers' right to supervise, and form a pattern of social co-governance, the platform's data must possess third-party notarization, effectively eliminating the possibility of enterprises reneging. Therefore, it must be a third-party service organization that leads, builds, and operates this platform. Government agencies could also undertake the construction and operation of this platform, but this is not consistent with the current trend of streamlining administration and delegating power. At the same time, the government can be a user of the platform, and so can enterprises; in this way, the impartiality of the standard information data is ensured. For enterprises, since this is the product standard information publicly disclosed by the enterprise, the enterprise must bear corresponding responsibility. The same applies to consumers—consumers can only assert their rights based on this publicly disclosed enterprise product standard. For the government, market supervision duties are also carried out through this publicly disclosed enterprise product standard data. In the revision of the Standardization Law, the uniformity and notarial nature of the public service platform for enterprise product standard information must be clarified. This is the third fundamental element of the implementation of the system.

Text by: Weitan