Hunan strives to create a "new business card" for quality and safety. China Consumer Daily 20220923

Figure 1: The quality management specialist of Hunan Kesiyi Building Materials Co., Ltd. creates a certificate of conformity for the product through the cloud platform.
Figure 2: The person in charge of the enterprise goes deep into the production line to inspect the standardized production of product qualification certificates.
Reported by reporter Yu Zhidu from our newspaper
Product qualification certificate is a fundamental element of product quality. In order to prevent the chaos of randomly issuing product qualification certificates and strengthen the main responsibility of enterprise quality, since 2021, the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau has taken the lead in carrying out standardized management of product qualification certificates nationwide, making product qualification certificates truly become the "ID card" of products, the "commitment letter" of enterprises, and the "new business card" of quality and safety.
Standardizing product certification highlights four practical significance
Carrying out standardized management of product qualification certificates has important practical significance, "said Gao Yongbo, the director of the Product Quality Supervision Department of the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau, in an interview with a reporter from China Consumer Daily.
Gao Yongbo further explained that, firstly, standardizing product qualification certificates is a basic requirement for implementing the main responsibility of product quality. The Product Quality Law stipulates that products or their packaging must have a product quality inspection certificate. The implementation of the product qualification certificate system is the basic requirement for producers to implement the main responsibility for product quality inspection and control, sellers to implement the main responsibility for quality inspection and control, inspection institutions to implement technical control responsibility, and supervisory departments to implement regulatory responsibility. It is the fundamental work of product quality and safety supervision.
Secondly, standardizing product certification is an effective way to build a safe consumption environment. How to enable consumers to easily and accurately distinguish the true quality status of products is a new issue that effectively boosts consumer confidence. We will comprehensively implement the product qualification certificate system, making it a quality business card that consumers can choose with confidence. We will use high-quality products to serve high-quality life, break through supply side bottlenecks, fill demand side shortcomings, and form a dynamic balance of demand pulling supply and supply creating demand.
Thirdly, standardizing product certification is an important means of resolving quality and safety risks. Comprehensive standardization of product qualification certificates is conducive to establishing and improving the list of production entities, urging producers to strictly implement their responsibilities for raw material inspection and finished product factory inspection, improving product quality, curbing the inflow of low-quality products into the market from the source, transforming post crisis response into source risk prevention, shifting from post product supervision to source supervision, and adapting to the new situation and requirements of modern governance.
Fourthly, standardizing product certification is a powerful tool for improving the effectiveness of quality supervision. At present, there are over 18000 types of industrial products in China, involving 20 major categories and 97 industries. There are more than 41000 production enterprises of various types, spanning multiple fields of production, circulation, use, and consumption. It is not possible to rely solely on limited means such as supervision, random inspection, risk monitoring, and law enforcement to implement governance and ensure safety. Building a new model of product quality and safety supervision with certificate management as the core has ensured the quality and safety of products from the source.
Four Supports Make Product Qualification Certificates "Live"
　　The product qualification certificate promoted by Hunan Province can also be said to be a digital product qualification certificate. Compared to previous certificates, digital product certificates have an additional QR code, which can be scanned with a mobile phone. Basic information such as product execution standards, names, models, specifications, production units, addresses, and effective contact information are all available, and production dates, expiration dates, and warning signs are also marked based on product attributes. The digital product certificate can also view the quality inspection report of the product.
To standardize the management of product qualification certificates, the Hunan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau has established four support measures.
Institutional support. In June 2021, the bureau issued the "Implementation Opinions on Comprehensive Standardization of Product Qualification Certificates", which provided detailed regulations and explanations on the important significance, basic requirements, classified supervision, and strict crackdown on illegal activities that violate the product qualification certificate system. In response to the diverse styles and arbitrary labeling content of current product qualification certificates, the "Hunan Province Product Qualification Certificate Management Standards" have been issued, clarifying the standardized labeling requirements for product qualification certificates in the form of local standards.
Technical support. Establish a team of technical service experts with standardized certificates of conformity, and an inspection institution represented by Hunan Provincial Institute of Product Quality Inspection has introduced a "one-stop" factory inspection work plan for the enterprise. We will jointly build laboratories with the enterprise and share testing resources.
Platform support. Hunan Aerospace Tianlu New Material Testing Co., Ltd. has developed a product qualification certificate service cloud platform based on new generation information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and blockchain. Key content such as product execution standards, models, names, and inspection reports are entered into the platform, and the platform issues a product qualification certificate with a QR code. Blockchain technology is used to prevent malicious tampering of quality information and ensure that product identity can be recognized The source can be traced and the information can be queried.
Bottom support. In early September, parents of Yaxi Middle School in Jishou City, Xiangxi Prefecture received their children's autumn school uniforms. They scanned the QR code of the product qualification certificate through their mobile phones, and the basic information of the production enterprise, testing reports, and product quality and safety liability insurance were clear at a glance. Seeing these, parents felt a sense of peace of mind.
Tang Yongjun, the head of the Product Quality Supervision Department of the Xiangxi Prefecture Market Supervision Bureau, told China Consumer News that currently, 15 school uniform manufacturers in the state have adopted digital certification and actively cooperated with insurance companies to purchase quality insurance for their products. Once consumers purchase products with quality issues and certificates of conformity, the insurance company will compensate them in advance to provide quality assurance for consumers. This measure is a beneficial supplement to the qualification certificate system, which can not only solve the problem of delayed and inadequate compensation for consumers who purchase substandard products, but also reduce business risks for enterprises. At the same time, insurance companies also force enterprises to improve product quality, bringing mutual benefits. "Tang Yongjun said.
Five steps to ensure the "gold content" of the certificate of conformity
On September 19th, the reporter came to Hunan Kesiyi Building Materials Co., Ltd., and the company's quality management specialist Lin Cui logged into the Hunan Provincial Product Qualification Certificate Service Cloud Platform. He entered the latest batch of quality inspection reports and other information issued by the Hunan Provincial Institute of Product Quality Inspection into the system, and created a product qualification certificate for 6000 sheets of this batch. By activating the QR code, each sheet has a unique QR code, achieving one item, one code, Ensure that product certification is implemented to the minimum sales unit.
According to Zhou Feng, the chairman of the company, in order to ensure product quality, each batch of board products of the company is entrusted to the Hunan Provincial Institute of Product Quality Inspection and Research for inspection and issuance of an inspection report. The inspection report shows that the batch of products is qualified in order to produce a product certificate and leave the factory. Otherwise, they cannot leave the factory, let alone be sold to the outside world.
Ensuring the completeness, authenticity, and validity of product qualification certificate information, and ensuring that products with certificates are "truly qualified", is the key to the implementation of the product qualification certificate system and also determines the "gold content" of the qualification certificate. To this end, the Market Supervision Bureau of Hunan Province focuses on the "five links" of production, sales, consumption, inspection, and supervision, so that each product can be traced at each link.
Standardized certification of production processes. Require enterprises to issue a certificate of conformity for products sold at the factory based on the minimum sales unit, and label the product certificate information in a standardized manner. Products must undergo factory inspection before leaving the factory, and the information must be true and valid.
Proactively verify the business process. The business entity shall bear the main responsibility for product quality inspection, checking the certificate of conformity of purchased products. For similar products with a QR code of the product certificate, sellers shall give priority to procurement and sales. It is not allowed to sell products without product certificates or non-standard certificates.
Rapid identification of consumption processes. Consumers can scan the QR code to inquire about the relevant information of the product certificate and factory inspection status, helping them quickly understand the product quality, assisting them in purchasing decisions, and making consumers feel comfortable and safe to use.
Accurate inspection during the inspection process. Qualified inspection institutions shall strictly follow the product execution standards for inspection, ensuring the authenticity and accuracy of the results, and shall not tamper or forge the inspection results without authorization. By conducting training for inspection personnel, tracing the measurement values of inspection instruments and equipment, and improving inspection capabilities, the accuracy of inspection data is ensured.
Strict verification in the regulatory process. Through the Hunan Province Product Qualification Certificate Service Cloud Platform, regulators can conduct "panoramic" supervision, verify the entire process of product qualification certificate issuance, circulation, and inspection anytime and anywhere, grasp the implementation of the qualification certificate system by market entities and the operation of the qualification certificate system in the entire market, supervise enterprises to fulfill their product qualification certificate quality responsibilities, and strengthen law enforcement and punishment of illegal behaviors.
　　According to the reporter's interview, as of early September, the number of enterprises in Hunan Province that have implemented the requirements for product qualification certificates has reached over 4000, with over 12.2218 million digital qualification certificates produced, involving 65 industries and covering 5006 products closely related to people's livelihood.
Gao Yongbo stated that since the implementation of standardized product certification management, the quality awareness of enterprise entities has generally increased, the quality level has been further improved, and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers have been effectively protected. The standardized product qualification certificate is not only a 'quality card' that enterprises confidently issue to the outside world, but also an important carrier of comprehensive quality information to consumers. Fully standardizing and implementing the product qualification certificate system, strictly preventing unqualified products from entering the market, will build a strong protective wall for safe consumption and safe consumption, and will effectively promote Hunan products and brands to enter the market, the country, and the world with more confidence, "said Gao Yongbo.