CCC exemption to become law in Shanghai

Shanghai's Pudong district is set to lead a significant reform of the Compulsory Product Certification (CCC) system, with the country's top market regulator approving the area's pilot scheme for a "convenient channel" aimed at providing specialized certificates.

The initiative, which allows six different categories of imports to circumvent CCC certification and verifies that products meet national safety and quality standards, will be elevated to become a legal project aimed at creating a better business environment for sectors such as biopharmaceuticals and intelligent manufacturing.

Special management measures for CCC exemption will be submitted for local legislative review in June,  said an official from the Market Supervision Bureau of Pudong New Area during a media interview on Friday.

Since Pudong initiated the trial scheme in July 2019, it has created a "green channel" to expedite imports for 11 firms within the key sectors of auto manufacturing and information technology. 

Named "autonomous declaration, automatic certificate issuance and honesty regulation," the exemption system is applicable for maintenance parts, scientific research and test samples, commercial display, complete sets of equipment required, full export of complete machines, and other special purposes.

As the area with the largest CCC exemption business in the country, Pudong has, as of February, issued over 65,000 exemption certificates, accounting for 80 percent of Shanghai's total and about a third of the national total, according to the Pudong market supervision bureau. About 400 companies, mostly in biopharmaceuticals and intelligent manufacturing, have benefitted, while goods worth over 1.5 billion yuan ($231 million) have been imported.

Pudong is looking to explore new digitized methods to regulate the CCC exemption system further. The regulatory body is exploring the possibility of opening-up an interface system for certification, so it may monitor the compliance of imports using digital data.