With the development of China's national economy and social undertakings, the Central Committee and the State Council have put forward new requirements for the improvement of the national standards management system. The necessity of revising the "National Standards Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") issued in 1990 has become increasingly evident. The revision of the Measures focuses on implementing the new requirements of the state, with strengthening the unified management of national standards as the main line. On the basis of fully considering the adaptation to the future development of standardization, it clarifies the management rules that both mandatory national standards and recommended national standards can apply to. The revised Measures have made significant modifications in the specific scope, formulation procedures, and working mechanisms of national standards. It will form a more effective working mechanism and practices in the management and implementation promotion of national standards, and better support and guarantee the implementation of national standards work. 
Analysis of the Revised Content of the "National Standards Management Measures"

I. The Background of the Amendment to the "Measures" 
The revision of the "Measures" was mainly based on the following three considerations. 
First, the "National Standards Management Measures" issued in 1990 no longer meet the current requirements for the management of national standards in the economy and society. At that time, China was in the era of planned commodity economy, and the established national standards system, management system, and formulation mechanism had a flavor of planned economy. The relevant contents have become unable to meet the needs of national standardization development in the current market economy. 
Secondly, the "Reform Plan for Deepening Standardization Work" and the "Standardization Law" have set new requirements for the management system of national standards. The "Reform Plan for Deepening Standardization Work" and the newly revised "Standardization Law" clearly define the types and positioning of national standards in China, and specify the new requirements for the formulation and revision procedures, organizational management, and implementation supervision of national standards. 
Thirdly, effective practices in practice need to be incorporated. After the promulgation of the "Measures", over the past 30 years of practice, many effective working mechanisms and practices in the management and implementation of national standards have been formed. These need to be included in the "Measures" to better support and guarantee the implementation of national standards. 
II. Main Contents of the "Measures" 
The "Measures" consist of four chapters and 46 articles. The first chapter is the general provisions (17 articles), which defines the scope and classification of national standards, clarifies the goals of standard formulation, and stipulates the overall principles and requirements for the formulation of national standards as well as the organizational management requirements. The second chapter is the formulation procedure of national standards (17 articles), which stipulates the stages of the formulation procedure of national standards and the work entities, contents, and requirements for each stage. The third chapter is the implementation and supervision of national standards (10 articles), which stipulates the requirements for the implementation, supervision, and review of national standards. The fourth chapter is the supplementary provisions (2 articles), which clarifies the special management regulations for mandatory national standards and the implementation date of the "Measures". 
III. Major Amendments to the "Measures" 
This revision has led to significant changes in the new "Regulations" in the following ten aspects. 
(1) Adjusted the scope of the national standards 
The first major amendment to the "Measures" is the adjustment of the scope of national standards. Firstly, it expands the areas covered by national standards; secondly, in terms of technical requirements for ensuring personal health and life and property safety, it adds the provisions of the "Standardization Law" regarding the scope of mandatory national standards; thirdly, it adds general technical requirements for resources, energy, and the environment; fourthly, it adds general technical requirements for governance, services, and management in production and circulation; fifthly, it adds technical requirements that play a leading role in various relevant industries. Through this adjustment of the scope of national standards, it not only aligns with the provisions of the "Standardization Law" but also further implements the goal of "in-depth development of all-domain standardization" proposed in the "National Standardization Development Outline", promoting the comprehensive coverage of national standards to provide institutional support in all economic and social fields such as agriculture, industry, services, and social undertakings. 
(2) Regulations on the positioning and management of national standard samples are stipulated. 
The second major amendment to the "Measures" is to clarify the positioning of national standard samples and add the code and numbering rules for standard samples. Regarding the specific management of national standard samples (including production, application, and supervision), it is proposed to follow the "Measures for the Management of National Standard Samples" (State Administration for Market Regulation Standardization and Technical Regulation [2021] No. 1) for implementation. By clearly defining the positioning and management requirements of national standard samples, a connection and coordination with the "Measures for the Management of National Standard Samples" are achieved. 
(3) Make provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights 
The third major amendment to the "Measures" is to stipulate the protection of intellectual property rights for national standards. Regarding the copyright (copyright) of national standards, in order to maintain the order of standard publication and dissemination, it is clarified that national standards and their foreign language versions are legally protected by copyright, and the entity that approves and issues the standards, namely the State Council's standardization administrative department, enjoys the copyright of the standards. In terms of the handling of patents involved in national standards, in order to promote the reasonable adoption of new technologies in national standards and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the public, the society, patent holders, and relevant rights holders, it is clarified that national standards generally do not involve patents, and the patents involved in national standards should be the indispensable patents for implementing the standards. Their management shall be carried out in accordance with the "Regulations on the Management of Patents Involved in National Standards (Provisional)" (Note: This is a specific regulation that needs to be provided for a more accurate translation). 
(4) A national standard verification work system has been established. 
The fourth major amendment to the "Measures" is the addition of a national standard verification system. The quality of a standard is the foundation for its effective implementation. The "Measures" has proposed methodological requirements for formulating national standards and clearly defined the entity responsible for establishing the national standard verification system. By conducting verifications of the technical requirements, core indicators, tests, and inspection methods of national standards during activities such as standard proposal, drafting, soliciting opinions, and implementation and application, the scientificity, rationality, and applicability of the standards can be further enhanced, ensuring that national standards can be effectively implemented in practice. 
(5) Expanded the standardized channels 
The fifth major amendment to the "Measures" is to clarify the path for converting group standards into national standards and formulating national standardization guiding technical documents, thereby expanding the channels for standardization. In terms of converting group standards into national standards, in order to promote the coordination and connection between government-issued standards and market-based self-defined standards, broaden the supply channels for government-issued standards, shorten the formulation cycle, and promote the wider application of standardization results, the "Measures" have specified the path for converting group standards into national standards. In terms of formulating national standardization guiding technical documents, in order to fully leverage the important role of national standardization guiding technical documents in the implementation of scientific and technological achievements, the "Measures" have made general provisions on national standardization guiding technical documents, clarifying their positioning, applicable scope and codes. 
(6) The specialized technical coordination units for standardization have been abolished. 
The sixth major amendment to the "Measures" is the abolition of the specialized standardization technical coordination units. This is because over the years, there have been no clear regulations regarding the designation of technical coordination units, their scope of work, work procedures, voting rules, organizational structure, supervision and management, etc. This has led to difficulties in clearly delineating the work scope and organizational affiliation between these units and existing technical committees. Moreover, in practice, it may result in the non-standardization of the formulation procedures of the technical coordination units, weak representativeness of the drafting groups, and insufficient representativeness of the review personnel, thereby affecting the quality of national standards. 
(7) A standard review system has been established. 
The seventh major amendment to the "Measures" is the addition of a standard review system, which clarifies the main contents of project approval and technical review. Project approval is the "entry gate" of the standard, focusing on evaluating the necessity and compliance of the project; the standard technical review work is the "exit gate" of the standard, focusing on verifying whether the procedures and technical content of standard formulation comply with regulations, as well as the scientificity and rationality of the technical content of the standard. The standard review system plays an important role in enhancing the scientificity and coordination of national standards, and ensuring that the process of standard formulation and revision is fair and transparent. 
(8) The form of letter review in the technical review process has been abolished. 
The eighth major amendment to the "Measures" is the elimination of the written review method in the technical review process. This decision was made because the written review does not meet the technical review requirements for timely discussion and communication to reach consensus. The existing network meetings and other means can ensure the conduct of the review meetings. 
(9) Clearly defined the transition period for national standards and the effectiveness of the conversion between the old and new versions 
The ninth major amendment to the "Measures" is to clarify the transition period for national standards and the conversion effect of the old and new standards. For a long time, there has been a dispute among all parties over whether the old standards that have been replaced after the release of the new standards can still be used and when the new standards should be implemented. Therefore, the "Measures" clearly stipulate that a reasonable transition period should be left between the release and implementation of national standards. Market entities should seize this period to complete the conversion work between the old and new standards. After the implementation of the new standards, enterprises can choose to follow the original national standards or the new national standards. After the implementation of the new national standards, the original national standards will be abolished simultaneously. For the abolished national standards, there will no longer be an incentive to follow them. 
(10) A national standard implementation information feedback mechanism and an effect evaluation mechanism have been established. 
The tenth major amendment to the "Measures" is the addition of a national standard implementation information feedback mechanism and an implementation effect evaluation mechanism. These two mechanisms effectively connect the aspects of standard implementation information feedback, tracking evaluation, and regular review, accelerating the speed and frequency of national standard updates and revisions. This can effectively address issues such as the absence, lagging, aging, duplication, or incompatibility and non-coordination among standards, helping to form a virtuous cycle and ensuring the effectiveness and applicability of national standards. 

Source: China National Institute of Standardization