The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) revised and issued the Measures for the Adoption of International Standards recently, to further regulate the adoption of international standards in China, steadily expand the institutional opening up of standards,and accelerate the development of integrated domestic and foreign trade.

The Measures will come into effect on June 1, 2025. Its main revised contents include the following five aspects.

First, it clarifies the adoption scope of the international standards and the scope of entities of standards adoption. The international standards refer to standards of ISO, IEC,and ITU. Identical adoption and modified adoption of international standards are both acceptable.

Second, it establishes a whole-process tracking mechanism for international standards. Domestic units undertaking the mirror committees of international standards organizations should track and study the latest progress and development trends of relevant international standards.

Third, it stipulates the requirements for the development cycle of the national standards adopting international standards. According to the Measures, priority should be given to national standards projects adopting international standards. If the international standards to be adopted are under development, it is encouraged to simultaneously develop and implement the corresponding national standards.

Fourth, it strengthens the requirements of copyright policies. Requirements for copyright protection are put forward at multiple stages of the national standards adopting international standards, including the project evaluation, approval review and standard disclosure. The Measures specifies that the disclosure of the national standards adopting international standards should comply with China's laws and regulations as well as the copyright policies of international standards organizations.

Fifth, it improves the supervision and correction mechanism for adopting international standards. The administrative departments in charge of standardization under the State Council should uniformly organize and carry out the assessment of the implementation effect of the national standards adopting international standards in key fields. Suggestions for modification should be reported to international standards organizations, if problems are found in the assessment.