Recently, the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China ("SAC") and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") have issued the National Guide to Building the System for Basic Industrial Standards (the "Guide").
The Guide sets forth objectives for the year 2020, stating that there will be over 2,000 national and industry standards for fundamental industrial areas to be newly formulated and updated at that time; over 90 percent of international standards will be transformed for fundamental and core industrial fields; and China will be substantially engaged in formulating and amending more than 100 international standards. To this end, the Guide proposes nine major tasks, including "researching how to design standards for core and essential parts (components), standards for advanced basic techniques, and standards for key basic materials". In addition, the Guide clearly specifies that where conditions permit, social groups in basic industrial fields, such as academies, associations, chambers of commerce, and leagues, are encouraged to formulate and issue their own group standards, according to the demands for technical innovations and the market development; the forerunner program for enterprise standards will be launched in certain key areas, such as high-intensity fasteners, high-end die steel, and additive manufacturing (3D printing) techniques and materials.