The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") and the State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") have recently issued the Administrative Measures for Funds for Formulation and Revision of National Standards (the "Measures"), immediately effective from the date of issuance.
The Measures provide that the standard-related funds are dedicated for work in ten aspects, including "examination, discussion and evaluation of proposed national standard projects and their submission for approval". The funds may cover such expenditures as reference material expenses, facility charges, experiment costs, travel expenses, conference fees, labor costs, expert consulting fees, announcement fees, printing expenses, publicity expenses, and other relevant fees. In addition, the Measures expressly state that the SAMR will, according to the criteria for the establishment of national standard projects, arrange for experts to review and examine the applications for proposed national standards to be formulated and revised, seek comments, coordinate the relevant work and gather together relevant information, so as to work out the annual plan for national standard projects and categorize the projects in the pipeline into three groups, namely "major standards", "basic and general standards" and "ordinary standards" and subsidize them accordingly. The Measures also stress that the cycle for formulation and revision of national standards shall in principle not exceed two years. The SAMR and entities undertaking the formulation and revision shall implement the relevant requirements within the budgetary funds and ensure smooth progress in execution of the budget.