Industrial products for licensing to be cut

The number of industrial products that require official licensing for production will be reduced, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

According to a statement released after the meeting, production will also be simplified to ensure quality, safety and adequate supervision.

Another 14 categories of industrial products will no longer require official licensing for production, a measure that reduces the number of categories that require such licensing from 38 to 24.

For products related to public health and safety and environmental protection, the official licensing will be replaced by the China Compulsory Certification, the statement said.

Incentives will encourage enterprises to conduct certification on their own as part of the measures to help build their brand and expand markets.

The measure came after a decision by the State Council in September last year to cut 19 categories of products, including water pipes and rechargeable batteries.

Production licensing was introduced in 1984 for quality supervision. Companies must obtain the license before their products go into production. The number of categories of products that require official licensing has since been reduced from 487 to the current 60.

It was also decided at the meeting that simplified approval procedures will be adopted for categories of products that still require official licensing for production. The old practice of product inspection before the issuing of approval will give way to enterprises presenting reports that show their products passed quality tests.

For those whose products still require licensing from provincial authorities, the companies, except for producers of dangerous chemicals, can submit required materials and guarantee authorities about the quality of their products before they obtain licenses.

The authorities will also promote the practice of only issuing one license for companies that produce different categories of products.

The statement said that the government will better live up to their responsibilities of supervision, step up oversight after the issuance of licenses and promote the upgrading and quality improvement of madein-China products. demand issue certification requirements, which has long troubled the public as they access government services.