Domestic product standards must be enforced

IN A SPEECH DELIVERED ON SUNDAY, which marked the annual World Standards Day, the State Administration for Market Regulation head Zhang Mao said that the agency will continue narrowing the gap between the standards for domestic consumption goods and exported ones. Beijing News comments:

Since the Spring Festival of 2016, it has been a trend for Chinese tourists to buy electronics when they travel to Japan, with a particular rice cooker among the most popular products they bring back.

The rice cooker bought in Japan works better than domestic products. Yet it was later discovered to be made in China.

The rice cookers are just one example. According to the experiences of many Chinese consumers who have traveled overseas, made-in-China products exported overseas and those sold domestically have quite big differences in quality, with the former being better than the latter.

Some argue that is the result of prices, because the exported products are sold at higher prices than those sold in the domestic market. That may have been the case 10 years ago, but it no longer applies today because Chinese consumers' average income has been rising steadily. The fact that Chinese tourists buy rice cookers from Japan is evidence of their greater consumption capacity.

A more important cause lies in the different standards. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, China has more than 3,700 national standards, of which 80 percent are at the level of their international counterparts.

Yet it remains doubtful whether these standards are effectively implemented domestically. It is much easier to make sure exported products meet these standards because the importing countries and regions have their standards to enforce, too.

Zhang's speech has pointed out the direction of the agency's efforts in the future. The 20 percent standards that are lower than international ones must be improved, while the standards for domestically sold products must be strictly enforced, so that Chinese consumers can buy products that have as good quality as exported ones.