How to prevent return events?

Activate Early Warning Mechanism

Faced with an increasing number of international technical trade barriers, Guangdong enterprises are not powerless. The fundamental means to overcome "green barriers" is to establish a technical system encompassing laws, regulations, and standards.

The most direct and effective method currently is to proactively align with international standards and actively apply for certification from competent authorities in importing countries. It is necessary to collect and study foreign technical regulations, promptly learn about changes in developed countries' policies, regulations, quarantine standards, certification systems, and special technical requirements for certain commodities, and formulate countermeasures. For standards that have been widely implemented in developed countries but are still difficult for China to achieve at its current technical level, careful study is required. Figuratively speaking, it means "knowing how high the threshold is," so as to purposefully improve product structure, phase out outdated processes, enhance quality, and cross that threshold.

Regarding helping export enterprises adapt to the new international market situation, relevant government departments bear significant responsibility. Currently, various regions in Guangdong are adopting measures to actively respond. Among them, establishing an early warning mechanism is an effective means.

It is understood that the Guangzhou Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau and the Guangzhou Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision have recently jointly established a technical standard early warning mechanism for various major export products in Guangzhou. All types of enterprises in the city can query domestic and foreign technical standards and related information for various products through the technical standard consulting service webpage (www.gzq.gov.cn). The webpage features columns such as News Bulletin, WTO/TBT Column, Domestic and Foreign Technical Regulations and Standards Query, and Technical Standards Query Desk.

The Guangzhou Institute of Standards and Coding Information has also signed "Technical Standard Cooperation Agreements" with 10 large textile, clothing, and home appliance export and manufacturing enterprises, including Guangzhou Light Export Group, Guangzhou Textile Export Group, Wanbao Refrigerator, and Hualing Refrigerator, establishing a technical standard interaction mechanism.

Peas are one of the main crops exported by Jiangmen City to Japan. In the past decade, peas exported via inspection and quarantine by the Jiangmen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau have not been reported or denied entry by Japanese inspection and quarantine authorities due to inspection and quarantine quality issues or pesticide residues exceeding standards. This is because, to ensure the smooth sale of fresh peas produced in Jiangmen to Japan, the bureau has done proactive work by strengthening field pest surveys for peas, organizing staff to conduct field pest surveys at the production sites once or twice a year to understand and grasp the pest situation and damage symptoms during pea cultivation, ensuring more targeted inspection and quarantine.

Conduct "Green Food" Certification

To align with the international market, the Chinese government authorized the establishment of the China Green Food Development Center in 1990, and joined the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) in 1993, laying the foundation for exchanges and cooperation between China's green food industry and related international sectors. Currently, the center has established contacts with nearly 500 relevant institutions in 90 countries and has conducted in-depth cooperation and exchanges with government departments, certification bodies, and international organizations in quality standards, technical specifications, certification management, and trade rules, including the Japan Organic and Natural Foods Association, Germany's BCS, and France's ECOCERT. Meanwhile, China's green food certification (quality& safety) has also gone global we enter the international certification system certification process.

After China's entry into the WTO, green agriculture will become a vital force in China's agricultural development. According to incomplete statistics, China's green food production currently totals over 10 million tons, with bases covering over 40 million mu, and an output value exceeding 10 billion RMB. In the current export of domestic agricultural products, cases of green food being returned are extremely rare.

Expert Advice

Currently, the most effective international weapon against "green barriers" is the ISO 14000 certification for environmental management standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). With China's entry into the WTO, technical barriers (including green barriers) are bound to surpass tariff barriers to become a key factor affecting China's foreign trade. Implementing the globally adopted ISO 14000 standards can provide enterprises with an effective "passport" to break through green barriers, enhancing the competitiveness of export products in the international market.

Improve and refine industry standards, strive to break through foreign technical barriers, strictly enforce checks – electromechanical products that fail inspection must absolutely not be exported. Strengthen management for export electromechanical products with unstable quality, frequent quality complaints from abroad, high return rates, and electromechanical production enterprises with unsound quality management. Increase certification efforts for export electromechanical enterprises to enhance their competitiveness in globalization.

Under the leadership of the State Certification and Accreditation Administration, reform and establish a unified, independent, monopolistic authoritative standardization management body. Create an effective network system for the research and development (including commissioned R&D), formulation, demonstration, promotion, information dissemination, consultation, and control of national technical standards, serving enterprises to ensure smooth entry into the international market, and creating conditions to eliminate technical trade barriers and resolve disputes for enterprise exports.

Implement an active imitation and innovation strategy. Export enterprises should actively learn and track the emerging technical standards, regulations, conformity assessment, and certification technical access requirements of developed countries. Establish a database of technical standards for corresponding foreign industries related to enterprise exports. Extract advanced and reasonable standard elements to supplement the shortcomings of the enterprise's technical access standards, invest effort in imitative innovation, explore new technical trade barriers based on environmental standards, and strive to achieve export standards consistent with the import country's technical access requirements.

To bypass complex and cumbersome external technical barriers, enterprises can engage in cross-border operations through joint ventures, investments, mergers, and acquisitions (corporate), utilizing foreign technology, production standards, brands, and marketing channels, which is conducive to overcoming technical trade barriers.