Closer Ties
On Sept. 21, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards signed three agreements with the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in the interest of the promotion of the mutual recognition of compulsory certifications and cooperation for the enhancement of consumer product safety.
The purpose of the consumer product safety agreement is for Korea and China to work more closely together with each other for the implementation of laws, application of the necessary regulations, management of conformity assessment organizations, and exchange of information relating to safety in the field of consumer products.
The agreement for the mutual recognition of conformity assessments concluded at this time is to allow the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) and the Korea Certification (KC) to be accepted at the same time in both countries. Specifically, its goal is to be met through the five steps of the exchange of information on standards, comparison between certification procedures and product lists, discussion of measures for preventing potential problems, signing of a final agreement, and fulfillment of the final agreement.
The other one of the three pacts is for cooperation in conformity assessment on electrical and electronics products. Both countries are planning to come up with much more specific measures for mutual recognition in the framework of this pact, in that those products have a high level of significance in respect to compulsory recognition, and international standards in the field have been established well. In this context, the certification bodies of Korea and China that handle such products are slated to conclude detailed agreements by March next year, so that the IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components (IECEE) Certification Body (CB) Scheme can be mutually recognized on a larger scale.