The National Quality Work Conference, held on July 27 in Beijing, aimed at further implementing the scientific concept of development, analyzing the new circumstances in ensuring product quality, setting the tasks for future work in this regard and adopting effective measures to improve the overall quality of Chinese products and promote the sound and rapid growth of the national economy. Premier Wen Jiabao spoke at the conference.

Wen pointed out that product quality has a great bearing on people's immediate interests, businesses' survival and development, and the country's image. Along with economic and social developments and continued improvement in people's living standards, citizens have increasingly higher expectations of product quality and food safety. Therefore, we should work hard to meet their expectations, the Premier said. China should cultivate well-known brands with excellent quality before it can take a greater share of the international market and foster a good image of its products, he added.

Wen put forward six instructions for the government's work at present and in the near future:

Strengthening quality inspection in an all-around manner. Effort should be made to strictly control market access by imposing production licensing, mandatory certification and registration requirements. China should further raise the standards of production licensing and market access of products that affect consumers' health and safety. It also should establish an extensive food safety inspection network that covers every segment of the production chain, from raising crops and animals to food processing, packaging, storage, transportation and sales. The network should be gradually standardized and institutionalized. We should strengthen the supervision of the key links of the pharmaceutical sector such as research and development, production, distribution and use of drugs. It is imperative to introduce strict drug approval procedures to ensure drug safety for the public. It is also necessary to strictly control the import and export of goods. Products that may pose a threat to health and safety should be recalled. Strict quality tests should be adopted to prevent problematic products from being imported to China or exported to other countries.

Accelerating the formulation of product quality standards. We should closely follow the advanced standards adopted by foreign countries so as to improve our own national standards and bring major indexes in line with international standards. At present, priority should be given to the revision of national standards concerning food hygiene, food quality, food safety and food testing techniques. A scientific and unified food safety standard should be formulated to manage food safety from farmland to dining tables in a standardized manner.

Improving the quality of products at their source. Manufacturers should use raw materials, supplementary materials, addictives and agricultural products that comply with national laws, regulations and mandatory standards. A quality management system that monitors all processes from product design to after-sale services should be put in place to strengthen overall quality supervision. Efforts should be made to cultivate a number of world-class brands to make the "made in China" label synonymous with excellent quality.

Enhancing the legal framework concerning product quality. We should improve laws and regulations on product quality, revise the Food Hygiene Law, the Metrology Law and the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law. Most importantly, we should strengthen law enforcement efforts to crack down on all kinds of illegal practices regarding product quality. The principle that "laws must be observed and strictly enforced and lawbreakers must be prosecuted" should be put into practice in earnest.

Concentrating resources on special inspection campaigns. A nationwide product quality inspection campaign focusing on foods will soon be launched. Efforts will be made to enhance supervision over rural and suburban areas, small food processing factories, and foods and other products that bear on consumers' health and safety.

Improving the issuance of information. We should create a unified, scientific, authoritative and efficient quality and food safety information release mechanism. Supervisory and administrative agencies should take the initiative in releasing information on product quality and food safety, including information about how cases are handled and how they have improved their performance, in order to subject them to public scrutiny and to ensure the public's right to know.

Wu Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee  and Vice Premier of the State Council, presided over the conference. She also gave instructions on implementing the tasks put forth.

(China.org.cn)