National Standards Conference in Nanjing
[Summary: At this conference, the focus was on four main aims for 2010, the "Year of Improved Management". Firstly, the agricultural standardization system should be further improved. Secondly, the level of industrial standards should be raised in order to satisfy the growing demands of developing industrialization. Thirdly, standardization work should be greatly intensified in the service sector in order to do justice to the requirements of the modern service industry. Fourthly, international standardization work should be expanded in order to increase China's influence on international standardization activity.]
On January 13 and 14, 2010, the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China held a national conference in Nanjing on the topic of (local) standardization work. The Party Secretary and Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Wang Yong, took part in the conference and delivered an important speech. The Party Secretary and Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Ji Zhengkun, reported on the work already accomplished in this field. The Deputy Provincial Governor of the Province of Jiangsu, Mr. Li Xiaomin, also attended the conference and presented the opening address.
In his speech, the Director, Mr. Wang Yong, placed special emphasis on the successes achieved in reforming and improving standardization work during the previous year. He demanded an even deeper understanding of the general principles expressed at the central conference with respect to economic activity, and also a deeper understanding of the demands put forward by the General Secretary Mr. Hu Jintao, the Prime Minister Mr. Wen Jiabao and the Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Wang Qishan with regard to standardization work. It is important that the overall situation should be improved by providing services to industry and society, in particular by enhancing the effectiveness of political targets and by increasing the general awareness of the importance of well-organized standardization work. It is necessary to underline the importance of adjusting economic structures and of transforming economic development in order to emphasise the urgency of promoting well-organized standardization work. It is mandatory to protect the security, the health and the quality of life of the population as a whole and to encourage unity and stability within society by understanding well-organized standardization work as a mission which must be accomplished.
Director Wang Yong spoke about the importance of politics and about the further demands placed by politics on work in the field of standardization. He emphasised that it is important to increase the political awareness of standardization work. An attitude of great responsibility towards the nation and its people should raise the quality of politics, define the political situation, increase the feeling of responsibility, and closely link standardization work to the national economic guidelines and to general social politics. An awareness of the importance of politics should result in an even higher quality of standardization work. Secondly, a new structure should be defined for standardization work, a structure which should be governed by a spirit of reformation and renewal. This new structure should encompass a comprehensive reformation of standards, comprising a rise in the quality and the general level of the standards, increased research work, acceleration in the implementation of political guidelines and regulations and an improvement in information policy with regard to standardization. Thirdly, standardization work should be more effectively managed. On the basis of the principles and methods of ISO 9000 concerning quality management, a comprehensive system of regulations for effective standards management should be devised, involving more stringent management and supervision in order to actively extend the scientific basis for standardization work and to increase the effectiveness of this work. In order to fulfil high quality demands, it is necessary in some instances to combine standardization with quality surveillance. This is particularly true of the plans and projects which aim to improve quality and the goal must be to encourage mutual advancement and common development. It is important to develop a sense of unity and to play an active role in creating a good environment which will be of advantage for both company managers and employees alike. A group of specialists should be brought together whose task will be to work towards strengthening politics, encouraging business, developing structures and optimising management.
Director Wang Yong specially emphasised that he wishes to encourage standardization work on a local level. This work should focus on the economic and social development in local areas and co-operate closely with local government departments, taking into account the particular characteristics of the regions. The first target should be to demonstrate the fundamental role of standardization work in the field of agriculture. Establishing agricultural standards must take special priority when considering how to promote standardization work on a local level. It is necessary to extend the range of agricultural standards in order to encourage the development of the local economy. The second target of this work should be to expedite the administration of standards in industry. The focus must be on guiding and supporting scientific research institutes and companies which are involved with national and international standardization activities. The third goal should be to set up a new, local structure for standardization work based on scientific findings. This work must be supported on the local government level and must operate in a variety of fields to ensure an active future for standardization work in local areas.
Finally, Director Wang Yong emphasised the fact that, in this "Year of Improved Management”, it is important to make a change in the way the work is done and to focus on reform and renewal. The measures agreed upon must be pragmatically implemented and put into practice as soon as possible. The keywords are co-operation, scientific development and service to the public. We must search for a compromise between administration and service, working hand-in-hand in order to achieve the goals set by the Party and the people.
In his progress report, Director Ji Zhengkun reviewed the standardization work carried out in the year 2009. He particularly emphasised the work which has been done in the last few years in the field of agricultural standardization. The guideline for the year 2010 is “to rethink, to adopt new attitudes, to reform, renew and to encourage scientific development". It is important to firmly incorporate the service aspect and the scientific standpoint and to uphold the legal system. The national standardization strategy should be implemented in accordance with the following five points: "structural alignment and strengthening of the standardization system; quality maintenance and raising of general standards; speedup of work to match increasing development; increasing benefits and work efficiency; consolidation of the administration by establishing a legal system". In the "Year of Improved Management", we must increase our efforts, striving to establish standardization work on a more scientific basis and to make it more effective in order to promote healthy and rapid economic and social development.
Director Ji Zhengkun urged that the national standardization strategy should be closely linked to the quality improvement measures drawn up by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China. It is important to consider the situation of standardization work in concrete terms and to combine the work being done in the following four areas: agriculture as the base level, the industrial level, the influential service aspect and the new situation on an international level. The first goal must be to increase the tempo of the work being done in defining agricultural standards in order to bring these into line with the rapid development of modern agriculture and the requirements for developing new agricultural communities in accordance with socialist models. The system of agricultural standards must be further improved and these standards should be introduced more rapidly. The pilot work on agricultural standards must be further encouraged. More work should be done in this new area and more research should be carried out in the field of agricultural standards. Secondly, the level of industrial standards should be raised in order to satisfy the growing demands of developing industrialization. The standards must be defined to cover the national key industries and the work should always strive to save resources, to encourage environmental protection and to promote new technologies and high technology. New classifications and product codes must be defined and the implementation of standards and the related tests must be geared to promote public health and safety. Thirdly, standardization work should be greatly intensified in the service sector in order to do justice to the requirements of the modern service industry. The system of standardization in the service sector must be further developed, the standards defined in this sector must be made available to the industry and the information gathered from the work done on pilot projects must be used so that the directors and administrative bodies of planned pilot projects may profit from the experience already gained. Fourthly, international standardization work should be extended in order to increase China's influence on international standardization activity. China should increase its participation in the organization and management of international standardization activities and take advantage of the opportunity to play a part in the definition of international standards. The exchange of ideas and co-operation on an international level are of vital importance in defining international standards.
Director Ji Zhengkun emphasised that the activities planned in the "Year of Improved Management" should be promoted, paying particular attention to sound political administration. A legal system should be introduced in which management in areas such as the definition and revision of standards, technical committees, reporting on standards, implementation and feedback, standards on a company level, standards on a local level and research into standards should be promoted. Scientific research structures for standardization should be intensified and the draft of the twelfth five-year standardization plan should be completed. It is important to bear in mind the four main priorities for long-term scientific work on the development of standards. The effectiveness of standardization work must be increased and we must attempt to establish standardization work on a more scientific basis in order to promote economic and social growth.
At the conference, the Chinese award for outstanding achievement in the definition of new standards in the period 2008-2009 was presented, for which 206 standardization projects had been nominated on the recommendation of the local government. The Deputy Mayor of the People's Government of the city of Guangzhou in the Province of Guangdong, Cao Jianliao, as well as representatives from six government departments contributed to the exchange of ideas at the conference by reporting on their experience in the field of agricultural standardization work. Participants at the conference joined governmental representatives in a local inspection of the city of Jurong in the Province of Jiangsu which is a pilot region for agricultural standards on a national level.
Further participants at the conference were representatives from the agencies for Quality Supervision and Technical Inspection from every province, every autonomous area and municipality and from all cities taking part in special planning programmes, every provincial capital and from the Production and Construction Corps in Xinjiang, special technical representatives from scientific standardization institutes, representatives from the various divisions of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China, expert representatives from relevant government departments and representatives responsible for the Jiangsu Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Office.
In the near future, the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China is planning to invite representatives from departments working in all fields to attend a standardization conference at which the allocation of work will be discussed.
(Source: SAC)