Business Opportunities for Testing and Certification Seminar

I joined the seminar entitled "Business Opportunities for Testing and Certification in the Mainland of China" organized by Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC), Trade and Industry Department (TID) and Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS); and supported by Association of Construction Materials Testing Laboratories, Hong Kong Association for Testing, Inspection and Certification (HKTIC), Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and HKTDC on 28 February 2011.

The seminar was summarized for sharing below.

In the beginning, Mr. Andrew Lai (Acting Commissioner for Innovation and Technology) gave an opening remarks.

The first guest speaker was Mr. Huang Shouyun (Deputy Director General, Department for International Cooperation, Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of Chian (CNCA) and his talk aimed to introduce measures under Supplement VII to CEPA for Testing Laboratories of Hong Kong.

Mr. Huang introduced the content of Testing and Certification related in CEPA.

China Compulsory Certification (CCC) System was briefed.

There were 159 type of product separated into 22 major categories.

Until 31 Dec 2010, there were 280 thousand of CCC certificates issued.

The procedures and arrangement of Hong Kong's testing laboratories for CCC were mentioned.

Hong Kong's testing and certification organization were supported to join CB system.

The second guest speaker was Mr. Terence Chan (Executive Administrator, HKAS) and his presentation named "Introduction to the procedures and requirements for Hong Kong's testing and certification organizations to obtain CCC recognition".

The process flow to apply the CCC qualification through HKAS were introduced.

However, CCC qualification requirements included two parts. One is HOKLAS requirement such as HKAS 002, HOKLAS 003, HOKLAS SC 45 and related SC of HKAS and HOKLAS.

The other part is CCC additional requirement.

Mr. Chan explained the bad record meaning the laboratory got Critical Non-Conformity.

Mr. Chan said the scope of CCC was based on product but HOKLAS was based on test. Therefore, CCC qualification needed to have the whole set of equipment which required by the product test.

There were three major different between CCC and HOKLAS requirements as follows:

i) Safety

ii) Environmental Protection

iii) Facility

iv) Others.

The new supplementary criteria 45 was issued for CCC qualification. The test report required in Simple Chinese and the surveillance visit was performed annually.

Q&A Session I

I asked the question about the tax for sample in and out the China custom. Mr. Chan said it should depend on the original place of your sample produced based on CEPA requirement.

Mr. Hu Jianfeng (Director, Certification and Accreditation Division, Administration of Quality and Technology Supervision of Guangdong Province" was the third guest speaker and his topic was "Introduction to the procedures and requirements for setting up testing and certification organizations, as well as testing and certification industry in Guangdong Province".

Mr. Hu briefed the statistic of testing and certification industry in Guangdong and then he said the proficiency tests were developing to enhance the competitiveness of industry to global market.

Mr. Li Dali (Director, Metrology Department, Market Supervision Administration of Shenzhen Municipality) was the fourth guest speaker and his topic was "Introduction of testing and certification industry in Shenzhen".

Mr. Li introduced the change of the government department about Administration of Quality and Technology Supervision of Shenzhen Municipality since 2009. He said that the most of laboratories operated in Shenzhen were private.

After the guest speakers presentation, representatives from testing and certification organizations shared their experience in providing testing and certification services in the Mainland.

The first speaker was Mr. Fred Bai (China President, Intertek Testing Service Ltd. Shanghai) and his topic entitled "Challenges and Opportunities in China Testing and Certification Market".

Mr. Fred Bai introduced the topic in three dimensions:

i) Forcast on mainland China testing and certification market and potential opportunities.

ii) Status-quo and challenges of mainland China testing and certification market

iii) Relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong in testing and certification markets.

Mr. Fred Bai said there were four types of players in China market and they were:

l Government laboratories and semi-government institutions

l State-owned institution and companies

l Foreign investment and joint ventures commercialized operation

l Private company

Then he introduce what was the "Characteristics of China Market".

As well as, "Chinese Characteristics" of Market

Mr. Fred Bai analyzed the Pros and Cons of Hong Kong for Testing and Certification Industry.

Finally, Mr. Fred Bai encourage Hong Kong to ask more opportunity from China Government. The more your request, the more your got. It is Chinese Culture.

(e.g. 會哭的孩子多食奶.)

The second speaker was Mr. Holger Kunz (Vice President, TUV Rheinland Greater China, TUV Rheinland (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.) and his presentation named "Past and Future Contributions of the Testing, Inspection and Certification Industry to China's Trade".

Mr. Holger Kunz introduced TUV Rheinland's service and history in Greater China.

He explained the role of TIC as a function on facilitating China's export.

TUV's sustainable solutions were introduced.

The summary of next 5 year's plan were briefed.

Lastly, Mr. Holger Kunz summarized the opportunity of Hong Kong.

The last speaker was Dr. Cyrus Ma Xiaoye (Vice President, Public Relation & Corporate Communication, SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services Co., Ltd.) and his topic related "Sustainability concept to enhance the harmonic among Indusry, Environment and Society".

Dr. Ma said the China market was huge but it was difficult to open. He briefed the history of testing and certification in China since 1984. Then he focused on CSR and talent development.

Q&A Session II

I asked one question about talent development in Testing and Certification Industry. Mr. Hu said it used certification system to qualify the people in this industry.

Mr. Huang gave additional comments.

Each speaker received souvenir.

Mr. Huang Shouyun

Mr. Hu Jianfeng

Mr. Li Dali

Mr. Fred Bai

Mr. Holger Kunz

Dr. Cyrus Ma Xiaoye

Group Photo

Reference:

Accreditation of Hong Kong CCC laboratories under the CEPA Supplement VII(Application now open for accreditation of CCC testing): http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/cepa.htm

Other linkages for qualification requirement:

Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China: http://www.cnca.gov.cn/cnca

Administration of Quality and Technology Supervision of Guangdong Province: http://www.gdqts.gov.cn/wsbg/bszn/rzgl/