Industry: Enhancing the Credibility of Certification, Accreditation, Inspection, and Testing to Better Empower the Real Economy

People’s Daily reporter Huang Sheng

In the development of the low-altitude economy, drones have moved from “able to be made” to “safe to fly,” and certification and accreditation has become the key hub connecting these two stages of development; in the green and low-carbon transition, enterprises’ “green content” are advancing toward implementation through a green and low-carbon inspection, testing, and certification system built via verification and testing……

As a core component of the quality infrastructure, the certification and accreditation inspection and testing (TIC) industry is being deeply integrated into all sectors of the real economy, and industry credibility has become the key prerequisite for TIC to play its supporting role.

So, how does the TIC industry become “trustworthy”?

Multiple industry insiders at the 2026 Certification and Accreditation Inspection and Testing Industry High-Quality Development Conference held recently said that, at present, China’s TIC industry credibility-building still has shortcomings, professional service capabilities need to be further improved, and at the same time the industry faces challenges such as an urgent need to purify the market environment, the need to further strengthen subject responsibilities, and the fact that the multi-party coordinated governance mechanism has not yet fully matured. Against this backdrop, improving industry credibility is not only an inherent requirement for the TIC industry’s own transformation and upgrading, but also the inevitable choice for building a strong quality country, cultivating new quality productive forces, and promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world.

Zhang Gang, formerly a State Council advisor, said that the development level of the TIC industry is an important reflection of industrial competitiveness and the country’s overall strength. With the current deep restructuring of the industrial landscape, it is time to strengthen and optimize the TIC industry without delay. Based on domestic practice and drawing on international experience, professional reorganization is the only way to address industry bottlenecks and achieve transformation and upgrading. All institutions should adhere to the principles of market-driven and government-guided efforts, and pool resources to open up a new chapter of high-quality development for the industry, solidifying trust foundations with professional strength.

Huang Jixian, deputy chairperson of the China Certification and Accreditation Association and secretary-general, proposed that credibility-building is not the responsibility of a single subject; it requires coordinated efforts from multiple parties. She suggested that market regulation authorities at all levels strengthen overall coordination and consolidate the institutional foundation for quality certification; that practicing institutions strictly adhere to the compliance bottom line, strengthen subject responsibilities, and improve technical capabilities; that the media and the public enhance social oversight and create a climate of shared governance; and that industry associations improve self-discipline mechanisms, implement industry conventions and personnel standards, and jointly enhance industry credibility and professionalization through coordinated action by multiple parties.

Under new development requirements, how can industry institutions make themselves more trustworthy? Sun Hanfu, a Party committee member and deputy general manager of China Inspection & Certification Group, said that the TIC industry is entering a broad window of opportunities during a critical period of key development. Industry institutions need to proactively align with national strategies, adhere to innovation-driven development, optimize development paths, and strengthen the foundation of trust. Liu Jiang, Party committee secretary and chairman of the China Quality Certification Center, believes that the industry is facing three major opportunities—rule reshaping, demand upgrading, and technological iteration. The industry should focus on enhancing credibility, support, influence, and competitiveness, adhere to the compliance bottom line, enrich service supply, and deepen coordinated development and co-construction, so that trust can be conveyed and development supported through professional capabilities.

Some experts also believe that improving credibility fundamentally depends on forging strong professional capabilities, and the enhancement of professional capabilities cannot be separated from deep integration with the real economy, precise positioning in frontier fields, and sustained investment in technological innovation. In the future, as multiple parties work together, with practicing institutions adhering to the bottom line and refining their expertise, and with regulatory co-governance continuing to deepen, the certification and accreditation inspection and testing industry will provide support for industrial upgrading and high-level opening-up to the outside world with stronger credibility and better professional capabilities.