Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") and the State Post Bureau ("SPB") have jointly issued the Implementing Opinions on Initiating the Certification of Green Express Packaging Products (the "Opinions").
The Opinions touch upon contents in three aspects, namely principles and mechanisms, certification implementation, and supervision and administration. Among others, the Opinions clearly state that the certification agency engaged in the certification of green express packaging products shall be legally established, meet the basic conditions as specified by the Regulations on Certification and Accreditation and the Administrative Measures for Certification Agencies, and have the technical capacity commensurate with the certification of green express packaging products. Meanwhile, a certification agency may entrust an inspection agency having obtained the relevant qualifications with performing the testing related to the certification of green express packaging products, when it is necessary for the certification business, and shall bear responsibility for the certification conclusions made based on the relevant testing data. Furthermore, the Opinions require that, certification agencies and testing agencies shall establish a working mechanism for traceability of the whole certification/testing process respectively, keep complete records of the certification/testing process and archive and safekeep these records, to ensure it is possible to trace back any step of the certification/testing process and the certification/testing results.