Article 1
The regulations are stipulated pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article 44 of the Telecommunications Act.
Article 2
The regulatory certification body for telecommunications terminal equipment (hereinafter referred to as RCB) refers to the entities that are commissioned by the National Communications Commission (hereinafter referred to as NCC) to certify telecommunications terminal equipment (hereinafter referred to as TTE).
The TTE test categories, certification type and certification items mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be announced by NCC.
The RCB shall sign the TTE compliance approval commission contract (hereinafter referred to as the commission contract) with NCC, and receive the TTE accreditation certificate issued by NCC (hereinafter referred to as the “accreditation certificate”) in order to approve the compliance of TTE.
The RCB accreditation certificate mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall provide the following information:
1. Certificate number;
2. Name of RCB;
3. Address of RCB;
4. Name of Test Body;
5. Address of Test Body;
6. Validity.;
7. Test categories, certification types and certification items.
Article 3
The entity that applies for becoming a RCB (hereinafter referred to as the Applicant) shall comply with the following requirements:
1. Shall be a domestic legal entity or institution established by law.
2. Shall not be engaged in the import, design, manufacturing or trading of certification items related to announced TTE as prescribed in the preceding Article.
3. Shall be a laboratory accredited by NCC or a domestic laboratory accreditation body recognized by NCC (hereinafter referred to as the Test Body)
4. Shall be equipped with at least one professional and dedicated certification personnel.
The personnel mentioned in Subparagraph 4 of the preceding paragraph shall possess a bachelor’s degree of above, majoring in telecommunications engineering, electronic engineering, electrical engineering or other relevant fields from a domestic or foreign public or private college or university recognized by the Ministry of Education; or have at least one year of testing work experience in a Test Body and possess knowledge and expertise in telecommunications technology. The personnel shall also possess comprehensive understanding of government regulations and technical specifications, and must not work concurrently in another Test Body for testing relevant work.
Article 4
The applicant shall submit the following documents to NCC:
1. Application form for TTE RCB;
2. Photocopy of establishment certificate;
3. Photocopy of the accreditation certificate of Test Body;
4. Information and documents that certify the certification personnel’s qualifications;
5. Organizational structure and functional descriptions of the applicant’s certification department;
6. Quality manual of the applicant’s certification department;
7. List of documents qualifying the applicant’s certification department;
8. Operating procedures for the compliance approval of TTE (according to test categories, certification types and certification items);
9. Other documents designated by NCC.
Where the documents mentioned in the preceding paragraph are deemed incomplete, the applicant shall make corrections within a period of time prescribed by NCC; applications of those who fail to undertake corrective action or those whose corrections remain incomplete, shall be rejected.
The prescribed period mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed one month.
Article 5
Where documents submitted by the applicant are approved, NCC shall undertake an on-site assessment with following criteria:
1. The product certification system complies with CNS 17065 or ISO/IEC 17065.
2. Other TTE relevant technical specifications announced by NCC or specified in Chinese National Standards.
3. Other requirements specified by NCC.
Applicants that have passed the said assessment shall enter into an agreement and sign the commission contract with NCC and acquire the accreditation certificate.
Regarding applicants that fail to be in compliance with criteria as specified in Paragraph 1, NCC shall notify the applicant of the reasons and prescribe a period of time for the applicant to undertake corrective action. The said applicants shall make corrections within a prescribed deadline and submit improvement reports; otherwise, the application shall be rejected.
The prescribed period mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed three months.
Article 6
The RBC shall treat all TTE compliance approval applications (hereinafter referred to as the compliance approval applications) in an impartial manner and shall not reject them without a justifiable reason.
The RCB shall handle compliance approval applications in the name of the RCB.
Article 7
The RCB and its certification personnel must not offer consultations to its applicants or alter any technical characteristics of TTE.
Article 8
The RCB that adds or removes a test category, certification type and certification item of TTE compliance approval shall submit an application to apply for the re-issuance of commission contract and accreditation certificate in accordance with provisions of Article 4 to Article 6. The validity of the reissued commission contract and accreditation certificate shall be identical to the original ones.
Any change to descriptions of accreditation certificate, except for the addition or removal of test category, certification type and certification item mentioned in the preceding paragraph, shall be reported to NCC for reference within 15 days after the change; the original accreditation certificate shall be attached when reporting the change. The validity of the reissued accreditation certificate shall be the same as the original one.
Where there is any vacancy of or addition to the professional and dedicated certification personnel of the RCB, the information of relevant personnel shall be submitted to NCC within 15 days after the said change for its future reference.
Where the RCB violates provisions of Subparagraph 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 3 due to the vacancy of certification personnel, NCC may order the RCB to suspend certification relevant works. The RCB shall, after the employment of certification personnel as prescribed, submit the profile of certification personnel to NCC for approval prior to conducting relevant certification works.
Where NCC or a domestic accreditation body recognized by NCC (hereinafter referred to as the Accreditation Body) confirms that RCB’s Test Body shall suspend certification works, the RCB shall suspend relevant activities and notify NCC of it within 10 days after the suspension for its future reference. Where NCC or the Accreditation Body confirms the said said Test Body is eligible to conduct certification works, the RCB shall report it to NCC and receive its approval for conducting relevant works.
Article 9
The RCB shall process compliance approval applications and issue, reissue, renew, revoke or abolish compliance approval certificates according to provisions related to Compliance Approval Regulations. It shall also send compliance approval relevant information to the location designated by NCC within 7 days upon completion of the applications. However, where the appearance needs to remain confidential, the RCB may send the photos before public display or trading within or outside the country.
The period of the confidentiality mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be a maximum of one year; when deemed necessary, the applicant may apply for an extension.
Article 10
Where the RCB tests TTE according to provisions related to Compliance Approval Regulations, it shall test at least one TTE per year; the number of tested TTE must be over 5 percent of TTE certified by the RCB. Whenever necessary, NCC may instruct the RCB to test a specific TTE.
When conducting the tests mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the RCB shall test at least one TTE that has been certified by another RCB within the past two years and the testing method shall comply with the principle impartiality.
For each test, the RCB shall complete a test report and submit it to NCC within two months. The RCB may apply for an extension in writing, with reasons specified, 14 days prior to the prescribed deadline. The extension may be made to two months at maximum and shall be limited to once only.
Article 11
The NCC may dispatch personnel to the RCB for irregular inspections, which shall not be refused by the RCB.
Article 12
The period of commission contract shall be a maximum of three years.
An RCB that desires to continue to undertake certification work after the expiry of contract shall, within two months starting from three months prior to the expiry, submit the application to NCC with the following documents:
1. Application form for TTE RCB;
2. Photocopy of the accreditation certificate of Test Body;
3. List of certification personnel;
4. Photocopy of the accreditation certificate that indicates the compliance of product certification system with CNS 17065 or ISO/IEC 17065;
5. Other required documents specified by NCC.
Where the documents mentioned in the preceding paragraph are deemed incomplete, the application shall be rejected.
An Applicant whose qualifications are confirmed by NCC shall sign the commission contract with NCC and receive the accreditation certificate.
The period of the commission contract mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be calculated from the next day after the expiry of the original commission contract.
Where the RCB fails to sign the commission contract with NCC and receive the accreditation certificate before the expiry of commission contract shall, the RCB shall reapply in accordance to provision of Article 4 to 6.
NCC shall notify the RCB to cease accepting compliance approval applications one month prior to the expiry of commission contract. The RCB shall complete all accepted applications within one month upon receipt of the notification. However, an RCB that has applied for continuing the certification work one month prior to the contract expiry shall not be limited to this term.
Article 13
Where the RCB is in any of the following circumstances, NCC may terminate the commission contract, order the RCB to return its accreditation certificate, and revoke the accreditation certificate:
1. Violation of the Telecommunications Act, Administrative Procedure Act, Compliance Approval Regulations or the Regulations.
2. The RCB has been deemed to have treated TTE compliance approval applications unfairly or rejected any of the applications without a justifiable reason.
3. The RCB issues a fraudulent compliance approval certificate.
Where the RCB is in any of the following circumstances, NCC may order it to undertake corrective action within a prescribed deadline; where the RCB fails to do so, NCC may terminate the commission contract, order the RCB to return the accreditation certificate and revoke the accreditation certificate:
1. Violation of provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 3.
2. Violation of Article 7 to Article 10, or Paragraph 1 of Article 15.
3. The RCB goes beyond the scope of authorization mentioned in the commission contract, or has been inactive in certification works.
4. The RCB rejects an irregular inspection by NCC without a justifiable reason.
Article 14
Where NCC terminates the commission contract, the RCB shall pass all unfinished applications to an NCC designated RCB.
The RCB shall transfer all and complete information of compliance approval applications to NCC within 7 days after the commission contract is terminated.
Provisions of the preceding two paragraphs shall also be applied to RCBs that cease certification work after the expiry of commission contract.
The RCB that has its commission contract terminated by NCC shall not reapply for RCB status within one year upon the expiry of the commission contract.
Article 15
When accepting a compliance approval application, the RCB shall issue the payment receipt according to the charging standards set by NCC and forward it to the applicant.
NCC shall remit the commission fee to RCB according to the commission contract.
Article 16
The Regulations shall take effect upon the date of promulgation.