The State Council on June 20 decided to upgrade the domestic supply and demand structures by improving the quality of product brands in China.
To achieve that goal, the document mandates speeding up the transfer of government functions, innovating government management and services, improving legal support for brand development, perfecting support policies, expanding the publicity of brands with independent intellectual property rights, and encouraging the consumption of these brands.
Enterprises should invest more in brand establishment, increase independent innovation, enrich product categories, increase the quality of products, set up a brand management system and increase brand cultivation, said the document, adding that enterprises should train skilled staff, and cultivate more talent.
It asked intermediary agencies to increase their own functions to provide better services for brand establishment and industry upgrades, and industry associations should play their role as a communication bridge.
To better complete the task, the document highlighted several major projects in basic brand construction, supply and demand structural upgrades.
For brand construction, four tasks need to be covered.
First, revise and improve product standards, and encourage enterprises to set standards that are higher than national and industrial levels to increase their market competitiveness;
Second, strengthen national test abilities, improve inspection levels for technology and equipment tests, encourage private enterprises and other private funds to invest in test services. It also supported qualified manufacturers to apply for related test qualifications and provide test services for the public, and urged establishing third-party test institutions with authority and credibility;
Third, set up research and development institutions, and encourage qualified enterprises to establish product innovation centers to improve their design of products;
Fourth, build up several brand evaluation research institutions to help release objective brand evaluation results and brand development index to increase their credibility.
For upgrades in supply structural reform, it required focusing on the primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
It supported leading food companies to increase their research and deep processing, and encourage enterprises to take advantage of modern technology to satisfy customers’ different demands to improve people’s quality of life.
In the agricultural sector, it asked to speed up setting up a supervision system for agricultural products, make food safety issues traceable and develop green and organic foods to increase food quality.
In the industrial sector, it encouraged companies to conduct the research, production and application of strategic new materials, providing materials for the production of good products.
To upgrade the demand structures, the document asks for building up credible product quality platforms to publish comprehensive, timely and actual product information for consumers, and improving the quality awareness of people in rural areas and regulating the rural market by clearing out products without production dates, quality certificates and names of manufacturers.
It also encouraged residents in rural areas to change their durable consumer products, such as household appliances, furniture, cars and electronics, environmentally friendly.
To better achieve results and implement these measures, it required the government to actively use fiscal funds, bring in more private capital, and support the development of brands with independent intellectual property rights.
Financial institutions are encouraged to lend money to companies with their own trademarks and patents on mortgage, and the government should take incentive measures to encourage product innovation and promote the craftsman’s spirit.
