APEC Sub-Committee Meeting on Standards, Conformance SuccessfulThe Third Meeting of the Sub- Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) concluded Sunday in Dalian, with consensus reached on standard alignment, understanding of the conformity assessment, pledges to work together on technical infrastructure construction, and transparency in all processes of the work."The meeting was fruitful," said Li Shaoqing, chair of the event. He attributed the success to the concerted efforts of all participants from the sub-committee's 20 member economies of APEC. Li said the two-day meeting decided to set up DeclareNet, a business-to-government (B2G) e-service website, which will be used on trial basis before December. APEC member economies promised to align their standards in four major fields, including household electric appliances, food labeling, rubber products and machinery, with 41 items of international standards in the four categories. The meeting approved the documents on electronic standards among APEC economies. The meeting also set specific fields for future cooperation and collective actions. A policy-discussion meeting will be held in February next year and the Fourth Meeting of the SCSC will be held during the Third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM III) of APEC, scheduled in August of next year. SCSC meetings of 2002 will be hosted by Mexico. Li Changjiang, director of the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Saturday met with participants of the meeting. He said China will continue to support the SCSC and work to promote cooperation on standards and conformance among APEC economies. The AQSIQ is responsible for hosting this year' SCSC meetings and activities. The SCSC held the first and second meetings in February and May in Beijing and Shenzhen, respectively. |
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