China National Institute of Standardization Holds Seminar on ‘The Role and Practice of International Standards for Compliance Management Systems in Promoting Sustainable Development of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the APEC Region’ | China Trade News

Summary

On September 7–8, the seminar The Role and Practice of International Standards for Compliance Management Systems in Promoting the Sustainable Development of MSMEs in the APEC Region, hosted by the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS), was held in Beijing. The meeting was supported by APEC and a project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 100 expert representatives from APEC economies such as China, Peru, Chile, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as countries and regions including the European Union, attended online and offline, and the live webcast received more than 130,000 cumulative views.

Guo Chenguang, Deputy Director-General of the Standards Innovation Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation; Cheng Duofu, Deputy Director-General of the SME Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; and Wang Kun, Party Secretary and President of CNIS, attended and delivered speeches. The meeting was chaired by Li Zhiping, Vice President of CNIS. During the meeting, CNIS introduced its international standardization achievements in compliance management and launched an intelligent system for conformity diagnosis and effectiveness evaluation of compliance management systems; researchers from the Institute of Policies, Regulations and Planning released the Research Report on Compliance Management Practices and International Standard Application of MSMEs in the APEC Region.

The survey covered 8 APEC economies and collected 355 valid questionnaires. The results showed that 90% of respondents recognized the role of international standards for compliance management systems, but content applicability, implementation guidance, and implementation costs remained the main factors affecting standard application. The meeting focused on topics such as international standards for compliance management, compliance opportunities and challenges for MSMEs, supply chain and labor and employment compliance, and

Commentary

The seminar held by the China National Institute of Standardization focused on the application of international standards for compliance management systems among APEC MSMEs. The released survey covered 8 economies and 355 questionnaires; 90% of respondents recognized the value of the standards, but content applicability, practical implementation guidance, and implementation costs became the main obstacles. This finding aligns closely with the situation of New Zealand SMEs: about 97% of New Zealand enterprises are SMEs, most rely on exports, especially primary products such as dairy, meat, and timber, and are sensitive to international market compliance requirements.

As an APEC member, New Zealand has an upgraded free trade agreement with China, and many SMEs do business in China or participate in regional supply chains. If international compliance standards (such as ISO 37301) can be implemented, they can help reduce compliance friction in trade, for example by providing a unified framework for labor employment and supply chain due diligence, avoiding duplicate audits caused by inconsistent standards. However, New Zealand SMEs are generally small and have limited compliance budgets, making the implementation cost issue mentioned in the survey particularly prominent: local consulting and certification fees may reach tens of thousands of New Zealand dollars, and the standard clauses are weighted toward large-enterprise processes, making it difficult for small agricultural cooperatives or exporters to directly apply them.

Another perspective is that New Zealand already has relatively high domestic standards in food safety, animal welfare, and sustainable development, but cross-economy mutual recognition of compliance is insufficient, meaning SMEs still need to repeatedly prove compliance when entering Chinese or Southeast Asian markets. This seminar revealed that China is promoting the internationalization of compliance standards and developing an intelligent diagnosti

Keywords: International Standard for Compliance Management Systems, APEC, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS), Sustainable Development, Research Report, Beijing Seminar, Standardization, Compliance Management, APEC Project

Source: China Trade News