On Sept 6 at the State Council executive meeting, Premier Li Keqiang said made-in-China products should be not only competitive in value, but also competitive in quality.

He noted as an example an incident he witnessed abroad more than 20 years ago.

“A nice porcelain plate was in the production line. The inspector smashed it to the ground, just because there was a tiny flaw in it. They said their company does not allow any flawed product,” the Premier said. “We must be aware of quality like them.”

At the meeting, it was decided to promote the construction of a quality certification system and enhance market supervision.

“As a basic infrastructure in the market economy, quality certification can help create a fair market and promote the quality of made-in-China products,” he said.

“Compulsory certification should be conducted on products concerning security, health and environmental protection. And, we should encourage enterprises to participate in voluntary certification and promote a commitment system so that they can accept public supervision,” the Premier said.

He said certification standards should be correctly made, that certification institutions should be separated from the government and the certification service industry should be developed. He also urged streamlining existing certification items, canceling unreasonable charges, setting up a retrospection mechanism of the whole certification process and cracking down on false certification.

He also said quality supervision should be inclusive and prudent to new technology, new products and new business models.

The Premier offered an example for the previous point. A company has developed a new type of electric bicycle but cannot sell it in the domestic market, because the government has not set a suitable standard for the new technology. But it has received plenty of orders overseas.

At the meeting the Premier highlighted three key tasks of the construction of a quality certification system — streamlining and regulating existing certification items and charges, strengthening in-process and aftermath supervision, and helping relevant service enterprises to enhance quality standards.