13/01/2020
Latest developments of green product evaluation standards:
On December 10, 2019, the National Green Product Evaluation Standardization General Group (hereinafter, the General Product Evaluation Group) held the “Meeting to Promote the 2nd Batch of National Standards for Green Product Evaluation” and the “Meeting to initiate the 3rd Batch of National Standards for Green Product Evaluation” in Beijing. At the meetings, the standard-setting units for the Second batch of national standards for green product evaluation reported on the progress of standard setting, the contents of standards, and the work arrangements of standards. Participating experts put forward suggestions from the perspectives of how to set advanced standards and how to set reasonable and leading technical indicators, and required standard-setting units to accelerate the development of these standards.
The General Product Evaluation Group is the organization in charge of developing national standards for green product evaluation. It has completed the first batch of national standards for green product evaluation, 12 of which have been adopted by China’s green product certification and included in the List of Standards for Green Product Evaluation and Certification Catalogue (First Batch), which was issued by SAMR in April 2018. These standards apply to the following products: coatings, furniture, sanitary ceramics, textile products, architectural glass, wood-plastic products, solar water heating systems, paper and paper products, wood-based panels and wood floors, waterproof and sealing materials, ceramic tiles and boards, and thermal insulation materials.
By now, the General Product Evaluation Group has identified 11 standard projects for the second batch of national standards for green product evaluation and finished collecting proposals for the third batch. There are also other completed or ongoing green product evaluation standards for plastic products, wall materials, tires, washing products, household appliances, kitchen and bathroom hardware products, electronic toys, cleaning products, and express packaging supplies.
The formulation of national standards for green product evaluation aims to help implement the “unification of China’s green product standard systems”, which was proposed in the Opinions of the State Council on Developing a Unified Standard, Certification and Labelling System of Green Products issued in December 2016. With more standards being identified and developed, the green product evaluation standard system is being improved.
Latest developments of water efficiency standards:
On November 27, 2019, CNIS held a kick-off meeting to revise the mandatory national standard Minimum Allowable Value of Water Efficiency and Water Efficiency Grades for Purifiers of Drinking Water. Participants discussed the application scope and testing methods of the standard, confirmed the division of labor and schedule of relevant tasks.
Latest developments of green factory evaluation standards:
On December 2, 2019, MIIT approved and issued the first sector standard for the evaluation of green factories in the electronics information manufacturing industry SJ/T 11744-2019 Guidelines for Evaluation of Green Factories in the Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry.
The standard plays an important role in the Green Factory Standard System, which is composed of three levels of standards: the top-level design, the industry guidelines, and the product manufacturing evaluation rules and requirements.
As for the top-level design, the national standard GB/T 36132-2018 General Principles for Green Factory Evaluation was issued in May 2018, outlining and standardizing the evaluation indicator system and technical framework for green factory evaluation.
As for industry guidelines, some are being developed, including SJ/T 11744-2019, which is the guideline standard for green factory evaluation in the electronic information industry. Based on the framework of the green factory evaluation model presented in GB/T 36132-2018, SJ/T 11744-2019 further highlights the characteristics of the electronic industry, stipulating the principles, methods, indicator system, requirements, procedures and reporting formats for green factory evaluation in the electronic information manufacturing industry. It is applicable to factories producing electronic information products. It also specifically serves as the sectoral requirements for the electronic information manufacturing industry to formulate evaluation rules and requirements. SJ/T 11744-2019 covers the whole process of the production of electronic information manufacturing industry, clarifying the infrastructure, management system, energy and resources input, products, environmental emissions and performance requirements of green factories in the electronic industry. The setting and specific evaluation requirements of these primary and secondary indicators, their weight coefficient, optionality and scores are given in the appendix.
Other similar standards that have been completed and released include Guidelines for Evaluation of Green Factories in the Steel Industry, Guidelines for Evaluation of Green Factories in the Glass Industry and Guidelines for Evaluation of Green Factories in the Ammonia Industry.
In terms of product manufacturing evaluation rules and requirements, many association standards are being developed to support the implementation of the industry guidelines. For example, in the electronics industry, a number of evaluation standards in key areas such as semiconductor integrated circuits, polysilicon, power lithium batteries, microcomputers and televisions are in the process of being formulated.
The Green Factory Standard System is a part of the Green Manufacturing Standard System, which was proposed by MIIT in the Guides on the Construction of the Green Manufacturing Standard System. This system is different from the Green Product Standard System led by SAC. The Green Manufacturing Standard System also includes a subsystem of “eco-design products evaluation”, which is very similar to SAC’s green product evaluation system in terms of evaluation purposes but adopts 66 association standards instead of national or sector standards.
In conclusion, these green standards have either been adopted by relevant certification systems or are very likely to be used in future certification activities, making it significant for enterprises to bid for commercial contracts, participate in government projects, or apply for government subsidies. Therefore, it is necessary for Europe’s stakeholders to continuously track and participate in the related standardization work to maintain a favourable position in the future market competition.