Source: Chinabuses.com

On 27^th March, 2009, AQSIQ held the Conference on the Management of Automobile Recall 2008, indicating that in the future a series of effective measures will be adopted to further strengthen the management of automotive product recall force.

The reporter believes that the interpretation of the public information disclosed in this conference predicates that from this year on, the force for China’s automobile recall supervision is expected to be enhanced at all levels.

Regulations on the Management of Defective Automotive Product Recall implemented since 1^st October 2004 is a departmental rule jointly issued by AQSIQ, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs. There are certain limitations either on the punishment of manufacturers’ acts on concealing defects or on the analysis of the support for the upper law.

The reporter knows from the conference that, in terms of the work in advancing the legislation, the regulation on the management of defective product recall (exposure draft) has been openly soliciting opinions from the community, held public hearings to collect the various opinions and recommendations, and revised. Zhang Gang, chief engineer of AQSIQ introduces that at present the regulation has been submitted to the State Council Legislative Affairs Office and listed into class-one legislation plan 2009 of the State Council.

The reporter believes that once the regulation on the management of defective product recall (exposure draft) is approved and implemented, which does not only mean that the automobile recall force can be improved significantly, but also has far-reaching significance for the construction of a sound system of laws and regulations on automobile recall. In the long run, in terms of the departmental rule, the regulation or the law, the restraint and supervision on defective automobile recall and other defective product recall will be increasingly strengthened, the supervision will be of more and more pertinence and the deterrence will be greater and greater.

As to changes in the scope of the recall, the management of recall in 2009 will extend to trucks and trailers. Sun Bo, director of Quality Department of AQSIQ, says that after investigation, AQSIQ believes that time is ripe for the implementation of the management on N-type (truck) and O-type (trailer) vehicle recall according a report to be jointly issued by related ministries and commissions in the first half of 2009. It is noteworthy that, before this, upon the approval of the State Council, seven ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Finance and State Development and Reform Commission have jointly issued Implementation Program for Vehicle and Motorbike’s Spread to Countryside which specifically defines the standard that one-time financial subsidies will be given to farmers who disable three-wheeled and low-speed vehicles, and purchase new light trucks and minibuses of 1.3 liters or below on a barter basis.

The data issued by AQSIQ show that since the implementation of the defective automobile recall system from 2004 until the end of 2008, a total of more than 1.84 million vehicles have been recalled and the number of the recall has been up to 155.

To enhance the construction of defective product recall standardization, on 24^th December, 2008, upon the approval of China Standardization Administration, National Technical Committee for the Standardization of Product Defects and Safety Management was officially established. Formulation of standards for automobile risk assessment, effectiveness and traceability of product recalls has been carried out smoothly, which will also contribute to the establishment of the automobile recall standardization system and provide support for the legal and scientific supervision by competent authorities.