The 7th China Forum on Standardization of Trade in Services, a sideline event of the ongoing China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), in Beijing on September 5, 2023 Photo: courtesy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) officially established a secretariat for a management-related committee - ISO/TC 342 - in China on Tuesday, the first of its kind in China in the ISO's 76-year history, the Global Times learned from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on Tuesday.

The establishment of the secretariat will enhance China's role in global economic governance and influence in setting international standards and rules, Yao Xin, secretary-general of the business industry committee at CCPIT, also the secretary-general of the ISO/TC 342 Management Consultancy, said on Tuesday at the 7th China Forum on Standardization of Trade in Services, a sideline event of the ongoing China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

The move will promote the high-quality development of the management consulting industry and enhance the international competitiveness of domestic management consulting firms, said Yao.

"We will continue to expand our international engagement through communications and outreach. At the same time, we have opened up international standard proposals from home and abroad, aiming to identify and understand the needs and trends of global management consulting standards," said Yao.

Yao revealed that the organizational structure of ISO/TC 342 will be established in mid-November.

Apart from the secretariat, the forum also witnessed the establishment of a liaison office for a China committee of trade in the services industry with the Business Advisory Council for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). 

This is the first industry liaison office in the field of services trade established by the CCPIT under the bilateral industrial and commercial cooperation mechanism to better promote the implementation of the RCEP, the CCPIT said on Tuesday.

The forum also marked the start of the development of international standards and national standards of user terms on e-commerce platforms.

The forum also released the 2023 China Forum on Standardization of Trade in Services (Beijing) Initiative, vowing to raise the level of standardization of trade in services and steadily expand institutional openness.

The initiative expects to increase international exchanges and cooperation on standardization of trade in services, and at the same time share the practice of China's services trade standards and China's solutions with international counterparts.

"We will continue to work with the CCPIT and other relevant departments to provide better services to foreign chambers of commerce and foreign-funded enterprises in China, and support foreign-funded enterprises and domestic enterprises in China to enjoy equal treatment when participating in China's standardization work," Li Yubing, deputy director at Department of Standards Innovation Management of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), said on Tuesday at the forum.

In terms of the development of the standardization of trade in services, Yao said that more developing countries should be supported in participating in international standards activities.

"We will build a domestic and international management consulting cooperation mechanism to systematically coordinate and promote international, national, industry and association standards for management consulting," said Yao.

Li said that the SAMR will continue to support the CCPIT's participation in international standardization and will participate in the formulation of international standards in the fields of digital trade, overseas warehouses, service trade, and new forms and models of foreign trade, and establish proposals for international standards for trade in services.

Global Times