S. Joe Bhatia, president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently met with several top officials from Chinese entities in Beijing for a series of discussions and trade-related activities aimed at fostering greater U.S-China cooperation in the areas of standardization and conformity assessment. The meetings, held from June 7-11, highlighted developments related to the standardization reform process underway in China [see related article].
Mr. Bhatia met with key ANSI partners in China, including Administrator Tian Shihong of the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), Deputy Administrator Liu Weijun of the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA), and President Ma Lincong of the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS). Building upon the Institute's strong relationships with high-level officials in China, Mr. Bhatia also met with Vice Minister Chen Gang of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ); former Vice Minister Liu Pingjun of AQSIQ; and Ge Zhirong, advisor to the State Council.
Administrator Tian (pictured above, right) provided a detailed overview of China's plan for standardization reform, including SAC's role in implementation of upcoming changes, the characterization and process for development of "social organization" standards, and the impact of the reform to other Chinese government ministries and their role in standardization. ANSI committed to sharing resources and experiences of the U.S. standards system, such as the accreditation of private sector standards developing organizations, in order to assist SAC in its implementation of relevant reform initiatives. Both sides committed to deepening bilateral cooperation during this process through more events and high-level exchanges designed to increase understanding between affected stakeholders in the U.S. and China. Mr. Bhatia proposed the idea of a high-level event to be held in the U.S. in 2016.
During their meeting at CNCA, Mr. Bhatia and Mr. Liu discussed important updates in Chinese conformity assessment, such as the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) program and procedures for conformity assessment bodies operating in China. Mr. Bhatia and Mr. Liu identified several areas for continued cooperation under the ANSI-CNCA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2008.
As the primary national research body engaged in standardization research, CNIS is an important ANSI partner. During their meeting Mr. Ma provided Mr. Bhatia with an overview of CNIS' key areas of work such as administering China's national mirror committees to several ISO technical committees such as TC242, Energy Management.
Mr. Bhatia also participated as an opening keynote speaker at the Sino-U.S. Workshop on Electric Vehicle Standardization, held on June 9 as part of the U.S.-China Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program (SCCP). [see related article]
Finally, Mr. Bhatia visited Anshan, China, to meet with ISO President Dr. Zhang Xiaogang.
ANSI leadership meets frequently with Chinese officials, as an important step in maintaining the relationships that make member initiatives possible. Mr. Bhatia's meetings in Beijing build upon ANSI vice president of international policy Joseph Tretler's visit to Beijing in October 2014.
Questions about China's standardization reform and ANSI's China Program can be directed to [email protected].