Li Xiaorui,Yao Chenzhi,Li Xiaohui

Surfactant and Detergent of Standardization Center of China,China

Abstract

The current situation of the standardization system development concerning washing products in developed countries or regions such as Europe,America and Japan,ASEAN countries along the Belt and Road,South East countries as well as BRICS was analyzed in this paper.By taking advantage of China's standards' features,strategies “going global” on standards of different countries or regions were put forward,together with the suggestions on their future development.

Key words

surfactant and detergents;at home and abroad;standardization;international market

China is the most populous country in the world for it occupies about 20% population of the total.The huge population base,developing national economy and per capita consumption level enable China to be the world's largest washing market and the world's second largest cosmetics sales country.All in all,China has become the world's largest comprehensive market in terms of daily chemical industry.Yet,comparing with developed countries or regions such as Europe,America and Japan,there still exists a gap with them.Mid and low level products still take up the large proportion of the entire daily chemical markets of China.And the progress of products concentration is limited,with lower percentage of exportation.On the one hand,we need to further enhance the scale effect and brand effect of the industry,strengthen the ability of technological innovation,and promote the output of new products;on the other hand,we need to strengthen the standardization system construction,through the influence of standards to promote China's washing supplies in the process of international marketization results.

China's washing product standardization kicks off relatively late since 1960s.At the beginning,we drew on much experience from many international excellent standards and adopted some Japanese and American standards according to actual requirements at that time.Over decades of development,China's washing product standardization work has reached a certain scale.As international standardization improves,China's standards on washing products have been equivalent to the international ones in some aspects.The influence of China's standards on washing products is on the rise,and our standards are adopted by other countries for reference.On June 23rd,2016,Singapore Standard Bureau proposed to apply part of China's standard of GB/T13173-2008 towards Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China in formulating Singapore's standards on “hand washing soap and liquid”,which embodied China's international influence in related domain,and at the same time,it was the first step signaling China's going global of the washing product standards.It is also of great significance for China to have an in-depth understanding of international washing product standardization and to seek the possible direction for China's standards to go global.

Current situation of international washing products standardization and the comparison with China's standards

Developed countries or regions such as the EU and America

By analyzing the washing product standardization system in developed countries or regions such as the EU and America,it is easy to be found that the major types of standards are general standard and test method standard.Product standards are rarely seen.In terms of the supervision on washing products,developed countries' standards and regulations are intertwined and mutually influenced with constant changes.Technological regulations and standards are mutually affected with each other.Both of these are upgrading constantly.By way of promoting product performance through technical laws and regulations,it is easy to appropriately maintain safety,health and environmental protection requirements of products,and enhance the continuous development of the society.In speaking of washing products,the European Union has relatively comprehensive regulations,policies and standard system.Developed countries or regions such as Europe and the United States have done a lot of work in the environmental protection of washing products and occupied leading positions in the whole industry.Environmental protection rules and regulations and the ecological signals are born earlier.Among them,China's Environment Signs and Product Technological Requirements Household Detergents HJ 458-2009 referred to GS-8 Household Cleaner and GS-11Washing Powder from America's “Green Emblem”.

China has achieved progress in the area of washing product standards but also has room for further development.In learning from Europe and America in terms of the policies and regulations,we also need to make more efforts to explore deeper and deliver better technological innovation.In the cooperation with others,we can recognize the standards mutually for the development of the trade and internationalization of China's standards;besides,developed countries and regions basically do not have product standards,which is a breakthrough for China's standards.So,we can do a lot to strengthen the promotion of China's relevant product standards and actively impel the joint development of international standards,in order to advance China's standardization to a higher level.

Japan

Japan has set up the standardization strategy at an earlier time.Japan adopts the national system to implement the comprehensive strategy on international standards.Japanese Prime Minister takes the lead in putting its standardization strategy into toplevel design,which directly results in the rapid improvement of Japan's speaking right in international standardization.Besides,the systematic standardization strategy contributes to the effective cooperation between Japan and the outside world in this field,and helps to form the community of shared interests via strategic alliance.Its strategy of union with America and Asia to compete against Europe gradually breaks the situation of ISO and IEC domination in Europe.It is also worth mentioning that in ISO/TC91 in the relevant industry,Japan takes the presidency.Japan has applied for project approval and released multiple international standards.In the development of Japan's washing products standardization,there remain some differences which can be mutually complemented in certain aspects.Table 1 illustrates the comparison of standards between China and Japan.

Table 1.Comparison of existing major standards on washing product industry between China and Japan

GB 14930.1-2015 food safety national standards detergent JIS K 3370-1994 Synthetic detergents for kitchen QB/T 2967-2008 detergent for bottles washing JSDA voluntary guidance on GHS Labeling for Household products GB 9985-2000 detergents for hand dishwashing JSDA voluntary guideline on Machine washing detergents for Food utensil GB/T 24691-2009 fruit cleaner Food Sanitation Act GB/T 24692-2009 surfactant Guide for comparative test of detergent properties for household machine washers Test method of Anti-bacterial activity for“anti-bacteria” claimed synthetic detergents for kitchen sponge QB/T 4348-2012 kitchen grease detergent Test method of Anti-bacterial activity for “antibactiria” claimed synthetic Home care detergents QB/T 4531-2013 scale remover /QBT 4532-2013 hard floor cleaner /QB/T 4086-2010 glass cleaner /GB/T 21241-2007 sanitary ware detergent /QB/T 4526-2013 blanket cleaning agent /GB 15979-2002 sanitary standards for disposable sanitary articles /QB/T 5296-2018 paper towel for wiping /GB/T 27728-2011 wet tissue /QB/T 4311-2012 chlorine bleacher Voluntary guideline on detergent and bleacher of security countermeasures agreement/Voluntary guideline on chlorine based mold remover /JSDA voluntary guidance on GHS labeling for household products/Voluntary expression methods of household drainage outlet detergent QB/T 4310-2012 oxygen bleacher Voluntary guideline of detergents and bleach products of Safety Council Voluntary guideline on non-chlorine based mold remover Home cleaning and care products Fabric ＆ home care chlorine bleacher Fabric ＆ home care oxygen bleacher

China has issued a number of product standards and related performance test methods in terms of washing powder,liquid detergent,softener and many others referring to fabric care products.As for home care products,China has released a series of standards involving the use in kitchen and bathroom.Relatively speaking,the system is more complete with a larger coverage.The Japanese standards cover alomost all kinds of products.While generally speaking,it lacks of specific contents,and the coverage is not as comprehensive as China's.Especially standards for home care products,there is no standard for floor,glass,carpet of their cleaning agents.So,eventually we can focus on exploring the possibility of the adoption of China's standards in Japan's market.In addition,in some aspects,neither China nor Japan has standards like air cleaner and fabric fragrance.This brings about a potential opportunity for kind of cooperation between China and Japan from the perspective of R＆D of relevant products' standard,which promoting the standard setting of international standards as a result.

ASEAN countries (e.g Singapore)

In recent years,Singapore is the first country to adopt China's standards of washing products who relies on trade to be as a developed one among ASEAN counties.Over years of efforts,Singapore's standardization work has been improved to a large extend with complete standard system and rules and regulations,and the standardization notion has been applied in each side of its economic system.

In 2016,Singapore put forward four strategies for the development of quality and standards in Singapore.Firstly,quality and standards will focus on fields where quality and standards play a key role;secondly,it is important to build up an outstanding staff team;thirdly,quality and standards need to help transform industries and deepen Singapore's participation in forums on international and regional economy;fourthly,expand Singapore's coverage in quality and standard network.Singapore's standard setting is tailored to different situations.It does not seek large and all inclusive development,by contrast,Singapore devotes more manpower and financial resources to the development of its own characteristic industry standards and safety standards.If it has other demands,Singapore will adopt international standards or advanced foreign countries' standards,which not only ensures the quality of domestic products and services,but also enables imported products and services to meet safety requirements.

ASEAN,as a regional organization,is the short form of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,which has gained remarkable achievements in social and economic development.With the initiative progress of China's Belt and Road,the collaboration with ASEAN will be reinforced strongly.ASEAN Economic Community is built upon the unified standards.As stipulated in the Policy Guide on ASEAN Standards and Unity,ASEAN countries should give priority to the adoption of relevant international standards in formulating or revising existing standards.Also,the ISO/IEC latest version of Adoption of International Standards as Regional or National Standards shall be the foundation for taking the existing national standards as the new national standards.[1]

ASEAN countries mostly adopt international standards.China's standards in the field of detergents have been taken by members of ASEAN.Next,we need to greatly strengthen the quality evaluation and mutual recognition of the standards,for the purpose of enhancing the trade facilitation of washing products in China-ASEAN.

South Asia

Located as the junction place,South Asia is an indispensable part of the Belt and Road initiative.China is now the major trading partner and source country of foreign investment with South Asia,and has become the important partner with India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka in fields especially like trade,investment,infrastructure development,service,etc.

India's standards are dominated by its government and has displayed the role of market to the full in the process of proposal offering,project approval and opinion consultation.The implementation of standards is the result of free competition in the market.[2]Pakistan,Sri Lanka and Nepal also have a governmentled standardized management system.Also,Pakistan has a high degree of internationalization,and it mainly accepts international standards and European and American standards in the course of trade.[3-4]Good understanding for the standardization work of South Asia will help better serve the Belt and Road initiative,deepening the regional cooperation with south Asian countries and further improving our standards level.

Pakistan,Nepal and other South Asian countries are economically underdeveloped who have much economic and trade cooperation with China.So we can take these opportunities to recommend China's companies to them and let them adopt our standards;besides,efforts should be made to adopt international standards to form mutual recognition of standards,or to adopt China's standards directly.Through analyzing the features of the standardization in South Asia where the international standards are recognized.Part of China's standards of detergents has reached the international advanced standards.China has led other countries to introduce many international standards.In cooperation with South Asia in terms of the trade,China's standards can be further promoted and other excellent standards can be further accepted.

BRICS

BRICS has developed into a combination of five emerging economies across Asia,Europe,Africa and America.The cooperation mechanism of BRICS has already become the leader among developing countries,which will enhance their overall say and decision-making right in the field of world politics and economic business.[5]Over the past decades,BRICS has reached cooperation mechanisms in many aspects.But the standard mechanism at the ministerial level is yet to be set up in the field of standardization rather than in technology,business and telecommunication,etc.Meanwhile,they are in shortage of good communication channels and platforms for standardization research and promotion.

Both as developing countries,each member country of BRICS has distinct standards due to different economic development stages and industrial structures.For example,Russia focuses on energy and equipment areas;Brazil goes to mineral field,agricultural and animal husbandry products;South Africa stresses on mineral manufacturing;and India prioritizes services industry and medicine areas.In the process of standardization implementation,due to these differences of industrial focuses,the technology and standards are quite diverisifed,which have been actually regarded as the valuable difficulties and opportunities we have encountered with.The improvement of standardization level of China's detergent industry can be depanded on the platform of BRICS for going global.

The Cooperation Work Plan on Standards in BRICS has been formulated and implemented.China has already published multiple versions of national standards in different languages.Next,we will improve relevant rules and regulations on overseas authorized using copyrights of China's washing products,amending the policy environment where China's washing products standards “go inside” BRICS,increasing technological investment on related industries in BRICS with foreign assistance training plans so as to back up the progress of related industrial technology and standards.It is imperative to advance and sign cooperation agreements,exploring the formation of standard mutual-recognition procedure and work mechanism admitted by BRICS,and facilitating the process of mutual-recognition of these standards.We also need to encourage the whole industry to join in standardization activities held by professional international organizations,displaying the enthusiasm of key enterprises and conducting international standard research together with BRICS to jointly raising the level of internationalization.In addition,we should utilize BRICS cooperation mechanism to help holding detergent standardization forums among BRICS countries for carrying out exchanges and discussions.

Possible directions of China's detergent standards for going global

Fully understanding standards of different countries to realize standards popularization by complementing advantages with each other

Based on the above analyses,in developed countries and regions like Europe and America,the current standardization system of washing products is based on basic general and test methods,lacking of corresponding product standards.By contrast,developing countries often choose to adopt existing international standards when setting up standards.Therefore,in different countries or regions,our standardization should go global from various perspectives.We now have about 152 existing effective national standards and industrial standards in the sector of washing products.Among them,basic and general standards and management standards totally occupy 3.9% (6 items);standards for product quality reach about 52.6% (80 items),and analysis methods standards reach 43.4% (66 items).A whole set of work mechanism has been formed regarding standard research,formulation,implementation and publication.Also,a relatively complete standardization system has been built in this field.Therefore,during the course of standards promotion,we need to know ourselves in perspective,and figure out ways tailored to specific situations,so as to reap more effective results by implementing the strategy of the “going global of standards”.

Strengthening regional cooperation to enhance the influence of standards

In recent years,China's status has been significantly raised among several key international standardization organizations.Chinese standards are making the leap from following to leading.By virtue of its status among international standardization organizations,China's standards are exerting increasing influence worldwide.But at the current stage,European and American standards still occupy a dominant position in the international competition,which hinders our standards from going global.China can strengthen the standardization cooperation with North-East Asian countries typified by Japan and Korea,and set up strategy of international standardization cooperation,offering external supports to the development of “Belt and Road” greatly.

Exploring self-owned advantage to promote Chinese standards “going global”

International standardization organizations like ISO/IEC advocate loose rules when setting up the international standards.Namely,rules are made only in terms of the key functions influencing the using safety and the product usage.Therefore,in the real technological standard competition,different countries can form a diversified standard system.For China,its independent technology standards have the unique condition in terms of choosing compatibility—the domestic market diversity.In order to satisfy the demands of diversification,the independent technology standards should accommodate various conditions of market demands since the infancy.So,during the course of “going global”,the advantage of China's strong compatible independent technology standards can be tapped into.We don't stress on the uniqueness of the independent technology standards to meet the demands of different markets,we aim to forge the distinct competitive edge comparing with developed countries concerning the technology standards.[6]

To promote China's economic development and push forward the “going global” of national standards,we should,at first,proactively take part in the international standardization activities,display China's edge in manufacturing capability and domestic market,and expand the influence of China's standards.Two preconditions need to be met before China's standards are accepted by the international market: firstly,there are enough products that have adopted the independent technological standards,along with domestic users at a large scale.The standards have been used safely and maturely.In partial areas or as a whole,they achieve better effects than those of foreign countries.It entails China to be the forerunner in the field of industrial innovation,industrializing new technology standards ahead of other countries and verifying and optimizing them in the real market operation;secondly,the stability and advantage of the independent technology standards should be known by the international market through certain channels.We need to occupy important positions in the international organization for standardization,deliver more keynote speeches in the international industry BBS,get more articles published in international journals and academic conferences,and enhance the international reputation of Chinese entrepreneurs,scientists,engineers and designers in this field.Above all,China still has a long way to go before the standards governing the daily chemical industry going global.At first,based on its own features,China should strengthen the partnership and strategic alliance with existing or potential standardization countries or organizations,and prepare the foreign version of the excellent standards.We should prioritize the efforts in transforming the target countries' standards which are in urgent need of being formulated and the existing China's advanced standards to those of the target countries.Then we should organize the publicity meetings and training activities for the users of those standards to promote China's brands and technologies related to daily chemical industry for going global;second,we should push ahead with the joint establishment of the international standards.While transforming the China's standards into those of the target countries,we need to let target countries propose the international standards proposal together with us.It thus helps them become the participants of the international standardization endeavor and also strengthen China's influence and call in the domain of international standardization,which is conducive to the realization of China's strategy in this regard;third,we should engage in cooperation with the countries along the “Belt and Road” in terms of the mutual recognition of the standards,strengthen the communication among and capacity building of the experts in this field,so as to gradually expand and penetrate China's contribution and influence.

China needs to further give play to its technology advantage in order to advance the development of the detergent standards overseas.We also aim to set our standards as the criterion for high-quality collaboration with partners by way of communication and project connection.It can be seen as a method to help China's standards go global by the popularization of our advanced standards and technologies.