Implementation of Article 23(7) of the CEPA Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation

Under Article 23(7) of the CEPA Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation (“Ecotech Agreement”) signed in June 2017, the Mainland will “actively consider recommending an eligible certification body located in Hong Kong to become a National Certification Body (“NCB”) of China under the International Electrotechnical Commission System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components (“IECEE”). A NCB accepted according to IECEE Rules can recognise and issue CB Test Certificates for specified IEC standards, and such Test Certificates would be recognised by other NCBs under IECEE. The implementation of this Article would thus facilitate the local testing and certification (“T&C”) sector to play a more active role in the Mainland and overseas.

To set out the implementation details, the Innovation and Technology Commission (“ITC”) had been liaising with the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China (“CNCA”) and had consulted the T&C sector in July 2017.

According to IECEE 02-2 “IECEE Membership”, IECEE requires a NCB to “be well-established and operate a certification or approval scheme at national level for electrotechnical equipment or components that provides market access to the country of the NCB”. As the certification body located in Hong Kong would join IECEE as the NCB of China, the abovementioned “certification or approval scheme” should be construed as the China Compulsory Certification (“CCC”) system. On the basis of this understanding, as well as making reference to IECEE’s requirements and views of CNCA and the T&C sector, a set of assessment criteria and marking scheme has been drawn up as set out in the Guide to Application (Chinese only).

Certification body seeking to be nominated to join IECEE as a NCB of China can submit an application to ITC on or before 30 November 2018 (Friday). An independent Nomination Panel will assess the eligible applications based on the assessment criteria and marking scheme. ITC will pass the Panel’s assessment results (i.e. the applying body having the highest score will be recommended for nomination) to CNCA. Please refer to the details as set out in the Guide to Application and Marking Scheme.

Guides and Application Form (Chinese only)
Guide to Application
Annex – Marking Scheme
Application Form

Enquiries
For any enquiries concerning this application exercise, please contact ITC at –
Tel.: (852) 2294 2918
Email: secretariat_hkctc@itc.gov.hk