1. GB/T 9237—2017 Safety and Environmental Requirements for Refrigeration Systems and Heat Pumps was officially released.

GB/T 9237—2017 Safety and Environmental Requirements for Refrigeration Systems and Heat Pumps (hereinafter referred to as “GB/T 9237—2017”) was officially released on the website of the National Standardization Administration Committee at the beginning of the year and officially implemented on July 1, 2018. GB/T 9237-2017 specifies the threshold for the use of flammable refrigerants. The promulgation of this standard lays the foundation for promoting the market-oriented application and promotion of environmentally-friendly alternative refrigerants.

 

2. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Standardizes Project General Contracting Management

At the beginning of 2018, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development organized the drafting of the General Contracting Management Measures for Housing Construction and Municipal Infrastructure Projects (exposure draft) to standardize the general contracting activities of housing construction and municipal infrastructure projects, and promote engineering design, procurement, construction, etc., as well as deep integration of each stage to improve project construction efficiency. 

 

3. Self-contained Condensing Unit Commercial Freezer Energy Efficiency Label Implementation Rules was released 

 

At the beginning of 2018, according to the public announcement made by National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Self-contained Condensing Unit Commercial Freezer Energy Efficiency Label Implementation Rules has been released by State Certification and Accreditation Administration Committee according to the provisions of Administration of Energy Efficiency Labeling (Order No. 35 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection of the National Development and Reform Commission) and the rules was formulated by the Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China. The rules will be implemented as from June 1st, 2018. 

 

4. Six ministries and commissions jointly issued the Notice on Accelerating the Development and Utilization of Shallow Geothermal Energy to Promote Coal Reduction and Substitution in Northern Heating Areas

 

On January 8, the National Development and Reform Commission and other six ministries and commissions jointly issued the Notice on Accelerating the Development and Utilization of Shallow Geothermal Energy to Promote Coal Reduction and Substitution in the North Heating Areas (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), proposing a package of support policies and requiring that specific local conditions shall be taken into consideration to accelerate the development and utilization of shallow geothermal energy and to promote coal reduction and substation in areas such as heating in northern heating areas. A number of towns, parks, suburbs and villages shall be selected to carry out demonstration projects.

 

5. Two ministries issued authoritative documents to upgrade intelligent manufacture standards 

 

According to the news issued on January 15 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in order to accelerate the comprehensive standardization of intelligent manufacturing, strengthen the top-level design, build an intelligent manufacturing comprehensive standard system, and play the role of intelligent manufacturing standards, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Standardization Management Committee jointly issued the Guidelines for Constructing National Intelligent Manufacturing Standard System (2018 Edition) (exposure draft). 

 

6. Announcement of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on the publication of the national standard Assembly Building Evaluation Standards

 

The Assembly Building Evaluation Standards has been implemented since February 1, 2018. The original national standard "Industrial Building Evaluation Standards" GB/T51129-2015 was abolished at the same time. The evaluation of prefabricated buildings shall meet the following requirements: Pre-evaluation shall be carried out in the design stage, and the assembly rate shall be calculated according to the design documents; the project evaluation shall be carried out after the project is completed and accepted, and the assembly rate and the evaluation level shall be calculated according to the completion acceptance data. The prefabricated building shall meet the following requirements at the same time: The evaluation score of the main structural part shall not be less than 20 points; the evaluation score of the retaining wall and the inner partition part shall not be less than 10 points; the full decoration shall be adopted; the assembly rate shall not be less than 50 %. 

  

7. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development: Unifying the National Engineering Valuation Rules and Revising the pricing specification for the Bill of Quantities

 

At the beginning of February, the Standards and Ratings Division of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the Work Points for 2018. The main points are as follows: 1. Establish a mandatory project construction standard system of “results control” to clarify the bottom line of engineering construction technology; 2. Establish a unified project pricing rule across the country; 3. Improve the whole-process price evaluation system for the whole engineering construction process. 4 Establish a system of professional qualifications for cost engineers. 5. Enable social groups and enterprises to set standards, and promote social groups and enterprises to become effective suppliers of engineering construction standards. There is no administrative license for group standards and corporate standards, and no administrative filing is required.

 

8. In 2018, the procurement standards of various provinces were announced, and no public bidding is required below 2 million.

 

At the end of February, the provinces across the country began to implement the “2018 Procurement Catalogue”. A total of 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have published procurement catalogues applicable for 2018. Government procurement comprises centralized procurement and decentralized procurement. Centralized procurement (mainly): If the procurement amount is < RMB 2 million, and the procurement can be made through negotiation instead of bidding; if the procurement amount is ≥ RMB 2 million, public bidding is required. However, the situation varies from province to province, some set RMB 1 million as a threshold while some set RMB 2 million as a threshold. Decentralized procurement: For procurement items that are not included in the collection catalogue, each department can procure by themselves; items below the quota standard are not included in the scope of government procurement management; items above the quota standard shall be procured in accordance with the Government Procurement Law of the People's Republic of China and The relevant provisions of the Bidding Law of the People's Republic of China.

9. Latest regulation: The bid opening and evaluation process can be traced back in at least 10 years.

 

On January 11, the Ministry of Finance promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Government Procurement Agencies (Caiku [2018] No. 2) (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), from the aspects of directory registration, employment management, credit evaluation and supervision and inspection. New requirements have been placed on the management of government procurement agencies. The “Measures” also clearly require that the process of bid evaluation should be recorded and filed as a procurement document (note that it is filed, not for half a year, but for 15 years). (The Measures for the Administration of Tender Notices and Public Information Releases, which was implemented as from January 1, 2018, also stipulates that data messages that ensure the release of information are not tampered with, or missed, and shall be traceable for at least 10 years.).

10. Ministry of Environmental Protection: Latest Notice on ODS Construction Project Management 

 

Environmental Protection Department (Bureau) of each province, autonomous region, and municipality directly under the Central Government, Environmental Protection Bureau of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps: According to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol) and its related amendments approved by the Chinese government, except for special use, China has phased out the production and use of ozone-depleting substances such as halons, CFCs, carbon tetrachloride, methyl chloroform and methyl bromide which are subject to controlled use, and is gradually reducing the production and use of hydrogen containing chlorofluorocarbon which is subject to controlled use.  

 

11. The State Council abolished the Regulations on the Scope and Scale of Bidding for Engineering Construction Projects

 

On March 8, the State Council approved the Provisions on Construction Projects Where a Bidding Is Legally Required (hereinafter referred to as the “Provisions”), and the scope of the project construction projects for compulsory bidding is about to undergo major adjustments. The standard for project bidding will increase from 2 million to 4 million. The goods inseparable from engineering construction increased from 1 million to 2 million, the service increased from 500,000 to 1 million, and the total amount of the project was 30 million. At present, the following items are required for the projects where a bidding is legally required: 1. The estimated price of the single construction contract is more than RMB 2 million; 2. The procurement of goods such as important equipment and materials, and the individual contract whose estimated price is more than RMB 1 million; 3. The procurement of survey, design, supervision and other services, and a single contract whose estimated price is more than RMB 500,000; 4.The estimated price of a single contract is lower than the standards specified in items (1), (2) and (3), but the total investment of the project is more than RMB 30 million. 

 

  

12. From May 1, the VAT rate of manufacturing and other industries will be reduced from 17% to 16% 

 

On the March 28, Premier Li Keqiang chaired the State Council executive meeting to discuss and approve the Working Rules of the State Council (Revised Draft). The meeting decided that from May 1, 2018, the first is to reduce the value-added tax rate of manufacturing and other industries from 17% to 16%, and to reduce the value-added tax rate of goods such as transportation, construction, basic telecommunications services and agricultural products from 11% to 10%; the second is to unify the VAT-taxing standard for small-scale taxpayers. The annual taxable sales volume of small-scale taxpayers of industrial enterprises and commercial enterprises is raised from RMB 500,000 and RMB 800,000 to RMB 5 million, and enterprises registered as general taxpayers will be allowed to register as small-scale taxpayers within a certain period of time. The provisions allow more companies to enjoy the benefits of taxing at lower rates.

 

13. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs encourages the “cold chain transportation and cold and fresh sales” model of livestock and poultry

 

In early April, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "Announcement No. 2 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), encouraging livestock and poultry breeding, slaughtering and processing enterprises to promote "scale farming, centralized slaughtering, cold chain transportation, cold and fresh on-market "mode. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued an announcement to impose stricter regulations on inter-provincial transportation of live poultry. Even if there is no poultry flu epidemic, it is necessary to restrict cross-provincial transportation of live poultry. The announcement encourages livestock and poultry breeding, slaughtering and processing enterprises to implement the mode of “scale farming, centralized slaughtering, cold chain transportation, cold and fresh sales”, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of animal husbandry, improve the ability of livestock and poultry to be slaughtered and processed, and build a cold chain logistics system for livestock and poultry products. The purpose is to reduce the long-distance movement of livestock and poultry, reduce the risk of animal disease transmission, maintain the safety of aquaculture production and the quality and safety of livestock and poultry products. The announcement will be implemented from May 2. 

 

14. Technical Specifications for Smart Home Information Security Common Criteria is Promulgated

 

The lack of smart home information security standards has also been one of the main factors that plague vendors in the industry. In order to solve this problem, SCA actively communicates with CCRA, the standard committee of the information security Common Criteria (CC), and SCA takes the lead to invite international and domestic manufacturers related to smart home information security to jointly develop the world’s first smart home information security standard technical specification in line with international information security standard system. After one year of hard work, on June 12, 2018, the technical specifications of the smart home information security standard of CC International information security standard system will be officially released on the “2018 SCA Smart Home Information Security Forum”, which will enable smart home products to “have a law to follow” in the field of information security. 

 

15. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development takes the lead in developing smart photovoltaic buildings and urban application demonstrations

 

In late April, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the Smart Photovoltaic Industry Development Action Plan (2018–2020). The plan is divided into five aspects and 17 works, of which the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development takes the lead in developing smart photovoltaic buildings and urban application demonstrations. The plan proposes to promote the supply-side structural reform as the main line, to build a smart PV industry ecosystem, to adhere to market-led and government-led development, to adhere to innovation-driven and production-use integration, to adhere to coordinated policies and phased development, and accelerate the upgrading of photovoltaics. The level of industrial intelligent manufacturing promotes the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and other photovoltaic industries, encourages smart PV applications in featured industries, and promotes China's PV industry to move towards the mid-to-high end of the global value chain. 

 

16. The National Development and Reform Commission issued the Credit Evaluation Standards for Engineering Consulting Units

 

The credit evaluation of the engineering consulting unit referred to in the Credit Evaluation Standards for Credit of Engineering Consulting Units refers to the industry’s credit evaluation of the industry self-discipline nature carried out by the engineering consulting unit under the supervision of the national and provincial development and reform commissions according to the Administrative Measures for Engineering Consulting Industry (No. 9 Order of National Development and Reform Commission in 2017). The purpose of conducting credit evaluation is to provide a healthy development orientation for the engineering consulting industry and to provide reference for the entrusting unit to select engineering consulting units. To carry out credit evaluation, the following standards should be uniformly implemented.

 

17. National Smart Home Standard Was Approved to be Released 

 

The national standard of GB/T 35136-2017 General Requirements for Intelligent Home Automation Control Equipment has recently been reviewed and released, which will be officially implemented on July 1, 2018. The development of this standard will greatly promote the development and upgrading of the entire smart home industry. The General Technical Requirements for Intelligent Home Automation Control Equipment is under the jurisdiction of the National Intelligent Building and Residential Area Digital Technology Standardization Technical Committee (referred to as the “National Intelligent Standards Committee”), which stipulates the terms and definitions, abbreviations, communication requirements, equipment requirements, control requirements, and control safety requirements involved in home independent collaborative work of home electronic equipment in the home automation system.

 

18. The General Office of the State Council issued the Notice on Launching the Pilot Program of the Reform of the Approval System for Construction Projects  

 

The General Office of the State Council issued the Notice on Launching the Pilot Program of the Reform of the Approval System for Construction Projects (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), in which it is decided that pilot programs will be launched in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian, Nanjing, and Xiamen, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guiyang, Weinan, Yan'an and Zhejiang. The Notice emphasizes that leading groups should be set up in pilot cities to improve working mechanisms, formulate implementation plans, determine quantitative targets, and ensure that the pilot work is carried out in an orderly manner. 

 

19. National Development and Reform Commission

 

In late June, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on the work of ensuring adequate coal-fired electricity, oil and gas transportation during the peak summer season in 2018. All relevant regions and enterprises should take into consideration of the peak load regulating list and continue to improve the emergency supply and delivery plan to ensure that the “firstly guaranteeing the civil use” measures are more reliable, safer, more orderly, and the impact is as low as possible. In areas with large coal import volume, it is necessary to further improve coal storage facilities, adopt various methods to expand coal storage sites, and improve the capacity of social coal storage and power storage. Under the premise of ensuring safety, coal production enterprises should take effective measures to increase the supply of coal resources and ensure the effective loading of coal.