China's first petty commodity coding standard released
22/10/2008 17:05
Needles, fasteners, even lighters can now be traded through e-commerce as
China releases a code standard for small commodities in Yiwu yesterday.
It's
the first country to have such a code standard which covers 1.7 million
varieties of small commodities, said Liu Bisong, a research fellow with the
China National Institute of Standardization.
The code, jointly compiled by
the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and national
standardization research institutes, will be officially put in use as a national
standard on Nov. 1, announced the sponsors at the China Yiwu International
Commodities Fair.
The code uses 12 digits to categorize commodities, 11
digits for trademark registration and nine digits to identify the place of
origin, explained Liu
"In the future, the code will be able store information
such as the producer's credit and production capacity," he
added.
Standardized coding allows for more effective electronic purchasing
management and will assist with marketing, sales and distribution when
commodities are traded internationally, said Hu Jianping, an official in charge
of market standardization in the Ministry of Commerce.
She said that the code
can also help producers protect intellectual property rights and improve quality
supervision.
Currently, there are several internationally recognized coding
standards, such as the United Nations' Certified Professional Coder, Universal
Standards Products and Services Classification (UNSPSC) compiled by the United
Nations Development Program and the Harmonized System (HS) standard from the
World Customs Organization.
Liu said that China's small commodity coding
standard covers a wider range of commodities and is more precise than the above
three coding systems.
"It is possible that China's commodity standard will
soon become internationally recognized, driven by China's immense export
capacity for small commodities," he said.
China first adopted commodity
coding for some exported goods in the 1980s.
Research and compilation of the
coding standard for small commodities was carried out in Yiwu in 2006, where
questionnaires were issued to 13,498 businesses.
Wu Bocheng, president of
China Small Commodity City in Yiwu said that the coding standard would help
advance Yiwu's market radiating capacity.
About 17,000 traders from more than
130 foreign countries and regions took part in this session of the Yiwu fair
running through Oct. 25.
Yiwu, in east China's Zhejiang Province, is 300 km
away from the commercial hub of Shanghai. It has the world's largest wholesale
market for small commodities.
The fair in Yiwu, held for 14 successive years,
has become one of the major foreign trade platforms for both Chinese and foreign
enterprises.
Xinhua
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