SAMR published the Notice on Deepening the Pilot Project of Local Standards Management System Reform on January 27.

Adhering to the deployment and requirements of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, the pilot work aims to explore new measures, mechanisms and models of the reform of local standards management system, and reshape the local standards development process, standards system, and institutional system, to propel the building of a unified national market and high-quality development. The pilot project will be launched in 13 provinces and cities including Hebei province, Heilongjiang province, and Shanghai.

The notice lays out key tasks in five aspects: First, introducing the negative list for local standards development on a trial basis to reduce the amount of local standards; Second, establishing the new whole-process management mechanism of local standards, and promoting the reconstruction of local standards development process; Third, implementing rigid management of local standards development at the city level, and improving the management system; Fourth, strengthening the supervision of application, adoption and implementation of local standards; Fifth, exploring new paths to change the function of local standardization work and enhancing their standardization capabilities.