21st Century Business Herald:

Quality infrastructure is referred to as "the foundation of the foundation" and is an important technological provision for promoting high-quality development. What work has been done by the SAMR to strengthen the construction of quality infrastructure? How about progress?

Pu Chun:

My colleague Mr. Liu will respond to these questions. 

Liu Sanjiang:

Building high-level quality infrastructure is an important arrangement made in The Outline for Improving the Overall Quality of China's Economy. Here, I would like to briefly introduce the progress that the administration of market regulation has made in building high-level quality infrastructure.

In terms of optimizing management, we have been committed to building an efficient and authoritative national quality infrastructure management system. We have optimized the dual structure of government standards and market standards by advancing the reform and innovation of the standardized management, with a focus on stimulating the vitality of the market to formulate standards independently. Data shows that the total number of social organization standards increased by 45.3% from 2022 to 2023. With regard to the reform on measurement systems, we have launched pilot reforms to diversify measurement instrument certification, improving the management mode of national measurement technical specifications and advancing the construction of a modern and advanced national measurement system. At the same time, we have improved the quality certification management system, deepened the market-oriented reform of inspection and testing institutions, and strengthened industry supervision. As of the end of 2023, there are over 34,000 qualified private inspection and testing institutions in China. Over the decade, the proportion of private inspection and testing institutions in the total number of institutions has doubled, accounting for 63.47% of the total number of institutions in the industry.

In terms of capacity building, China's internationally recognized calibration and measurement capabilities have reached 1,879, ranking among the top in the world. We have established 202 national measurement benchmarks and issued 2,056 national measurement technical specifications. At present, we have issued more than 45,000 national standards and built a new standard system with Chinese characteristics, realizing the full coverage of primary, secondary and tertiary industries and social undertakings. The conversion rate of international standards has surpassed 83%. Concerning certification and accreditation of inspection and testing, China has led the world in the number of authorized certificates and certified organizations for many years. There are 17,870 accredited conformity assessment bodies and more than 54,000 qualified inspection and testing institutions, with an annual revenue of over 470 billion yuan, accounting for about 25% of the world's total. China has become the most dynamic and efficient market in the world. In addition, we have organized and carried out more than 200 inspection and testing capability verification and interlaboratory comparisons in various fields every year, continuously verifying and improving the technical capabilities of inspection and testing institutions.

In terms of improving service efficiency, we have carried out a number of actions for quality infrastructure assistance, such as the program on providing measurement services for small and medium-sized enterprises, a special action on benchmarking and compliance, and the action on certification and enhancement of quality management system for micro and small businesses, so as to promote the continuous release of service efficiency for quality infrastructure in different fields and industries. Among them, the action on certification and enhancement of quality management system for micro and small businesses has provided 32 billion yuan of financial credit support, such as loans for certified micro and small businesses, and nearly 40 million yuan of certification fees have been reduced and exempted. In particular, the administration for market regulation has also been promoting the "one-stop" services of quality infrastructure and has established 1,450 service stations nationwide. A number of typical service models that can be replicated and promoted have emerged, which have played an important role in strengthening the competitiveness of micro and small businesses as well as promoting the high-quality development of regions and industries.

Next, we will continue to promote the upgrading of quality infrastructure and improve its efficiency, carry out monitoring and comprehensive evaluation of the operation of quality infrastructure, innovate the integrated and collaborative model of quality infrastructure and continue to enhance the development of "one-stop" services for quality infrastructure, so as to provide more solid and strong support on quality to promote high-quality development. Thank you.