"Chinese Shoes" Bravely Contend For The Right Of International Discourse. The Road Of &Nbsp, ISO Is Full Of Hardships.

December 7th,

China's footwear standardization opens International Tour

With the continuous enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength, the status of China's shoemaking industry in the world is unshakable, and China's leather industry and manufacturing industry are still unshakable.

Breakthrough 1: first joint commitment to ISO/TC137 Secretariat work

The second working group of ISO/TC137 was held in from November 10th to 12th at PFI (TestandResearchInstitutePirmasens) of Pierre Mason J, Germany. 12 representatives from China, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Germany, Czech, Sweden and other countries participated. China's 4 representatives came from the China leather and footwear industry research institute.

The Chinese leather and footwear industry research institute applied for the request of the Joint Secretary of the Committee and was unanimously adopted by all the representatives.

The joint secretaries will go to Geneva to carry out relevant work training, and the two sides will formally hand over the work of the joint secretaries at the meeting held in South Africa in July 2011.

It is of great significance to jointly assume the Secretariat of the bid committee. By the end of August 2010, ISO had a total of TC210 technical committees and SC519 technical committees. At present, China has undertaken 40 ISO technical committees and sub committee secretariat work, accounting for only 5.5%.

Breakthrough 2: two new standards approved

The twenty-second annual meeting of CEN/TC309 and the twelfth annual meeting of ISO/TC216 were held in Italy NUI (Italy Standardization Association) in from November 17 to 18, 2010. More than 20 representatives from China, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries participated. 3 of China's representatives were from China leather and shoemaking industry research institute, Fujian entry exit inspection and Quarantine Bureau, and China Leather Association.

At the ISO/TC216 meeting, China's newly submitted two standards, the flexural performance of footwear whole shoe testing methods, and the wear resistance of footwear whole shoe testing methods, have been striving to win a certain turnout rate and become a new standard work item of ISO/TC216.

ISO/TC216 at the meeting, a new working group named WG1 "footwear microorganism" was set up to convene the Chinese leather and footwear industry research institute.

This is the first working group set up by ISO/TC216 in 1998, and the convener is from China.

With the establishment of the working group, more relevant standards are expected to be submitted conveniently. More Chinese experts will be involved in the international standard setting, which will further enhance the participation and quality of international standards and further enhance the overall level of standardization of China's footwear industry.

This is the first time that China has been a leader in international standards for the first time in last year, successfully participated in 5 international standards setting, become an observer of the European footwear technology committee (CEN/TC309), and successfully co sponsored the ISO/TC137 International Conference. After a series of major breakthroughs, China has gained more rights and interests in the 2010 International Footwear Standards conference.

Qi Xiaoxia, executive director of the national shoe technology standardization committee and executive vice director of the national footwear quality supervision and inspection center, said in an interview with the media: "China, as the world's largest shoe maker, has an annual output of over 10 billion pairs of shoes, occupying more than 50% of the global shoe making industry, but China's disadvantaged position in the international discourse is far from consistent with the status of the great powers.

China's participation in the formulation of international standards is a highly technical indicator. This shows that China's shoe making technology has gained international recognition.

Enterprises should take a more active part in the formulation of international trade rules and international standards, and strive for more international discourse power for China's footwear industry.

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China's participation in the formulation of international standardization of footwear is full of hardships.

China's struggle for international standard setting rights is not smooth sailing.

In fact, the progress made by China at international conferences is very difficult, and the hardships may be felt only by the participants.

As the only non EU member participating in the ISO/TC216 conference, ISO/TC137 participates in international standardization activities except for the non EU countries outside the South African Secretariat.

International Footwear standards, such as formulation, formulation and revision, have been monopolized by EU countries, especially ISO/TC216 is monopolized by EU CEN/TC309. CEN standard can directly become ISO standard, and ISO standard is not necessarily recognized by EU countries.

Within the European Union, the voting weight of the European Union countries is also different. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other countries have the largest voting weight, followed by Spain and other countries. This has formed the opposition of a few large country representatives to remove the standards raised by China from the working framework of CEN, and they have basically controlled the direction of the revision of EU standards, and each time the representatives of these countries participate.

European experts mostly come from international testing organizations such as SATRA, CTC, PFI, INSCOPE, BLC and so on. Their interests are basically the same. It is very easy to reach a consensus, which is totally consistent in obstructing China's participation in international standards.

China's projects did not pass through the EN level. When European countries saw the ISO voting on the screen, they immediately reacted strongly. Even at the early stage of voting, they agreed or abstained. The meeting site was still temporarily opposed to the new voting standard, especially Germany and Italy.

Some countries even mobilized other countries to raise objections before the representative of China.

International breakout is beset with difficulties.

Language: English is the official language of the conference, but European countries have mixed accents, sometimes mixed with their respective national languages. They are closely related. They have to meet several times a year to familiarize themselves with each other's language and communicate with each other.

Participation efforts: two working groups of CEN/TC309 each year in Europe have held several meetings to discuss the ISO and CEN standard revision. At the annual meeting, most of the standards were simply introduced. There was a certain fault in the content of Chinese participants. After two years of application, China became an observer of CEN/TC309 only last year. Only by this way can we track some information in its website.

Conference information, including part of the conference agenda, can only be received one or two days before the start of the meeting, which requires very high level of on-site response ability of Chinese participants.

The EU's self protection: at the annual meeting this year, when the standards of China and China were brought up in time, the atmosphere of the meeting was rather tense.

Since the newly established working group is currently discussing the successful ISO/CD16187 of China, the Chinese representative suggested that the working group meeting be held in China, and CTC and SATRA immediately expressed their opposition.

Later, after the Chinese representative, they said, "the first meeting must be in Europe, and the follow-up can be considered in China".

Although the 2 new standards were approved at the ISO/TC216 conference, the follow-up work was still very difficult, and the project was only a start for the possibility of becoming an international standard.

In the voting, several major European powers voted against it and will still be bramble in the follow-up work and the next stage of voting.

Last year, the ISO/CD16187 introduced by China was 9 months away from the next stage. The task is very heavy. At the end of the FDIS stage, it is impossible to get rid of all the achievements at any time.

Technology: the EU has a strong tendency to protect itself. Even if the essence of the non EU countries is, they will criticize it from beginning to end, which requires our technology to be perfect again.

From the standard itself, there are also some problems in the 3 standards. Some EU representatives have made some useful suggestions from the technical point of view, and also need to conscientiously improve the domestic working group so as to improve their own standard quality beyond the requirements of international standards.

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Participation in international standardization activities is of great historical significance.

With the development of economy and the increasing cost of labor and raw materials, the pace of domestic industry pformation and upgrading has been accelerating. The footwear industry needs to pform from quantity scale to quality benefit, from product sales to brand, culture, service and standard output.

In the period of this strategic opportunity, China should actively strive for the international standard system to revise the discourse power.

Setting up international standards suitable for China's national conditions will help reduce the difficulty of adopting international standards, drive domestic testing institutions in line with international standards, break the monopoly of foreign testing giants in testing and standards setting, help reduce the cost of testing and promote healthy development of enterprises, and help to clear up the standard barriers of China's footwear exports, avoid trade frictions and maintain good industry and national image.