From November this year, the Certification and Accreditation
Administration of China (CNCA) will carry out a nationwide
investigation into laboratory resources to cope with a new set of
circumstances following China's entry to the WTO and improve the
management and use of existing laboratory resources.
It
is currently reported that laboratories in China, individually
attached to a variety of state functional departments, lack
uniformed management and overall planning. The result is that
although large in number, most laboratories in China are small in
scale and low in status with each conducting its own affairs
irrespective of broader interests. It has therefore become a
universal requirement for organizations, including concerning
governmental departments, laboratories and administrative
departments, to develop an awareness of the current condition of
China's laboratory resources. The main goal of the CNCA
investigation is to make clear the real condition of China's
laboratories so as to provide scientific data for future planning
and construction.
China has committed to allowing foreign investors to share a stake
in domestic laboratories and examination organizations within two
years, and permit foreign organizations to set up branches in China
within the next four years subsequent to China's WTO entry. In the
future it is predicated that a large number of foreign laboratories
will compete with domestic laboratories in China's research and
development market. Many excellent domestic laboratories are also
expected to go abroad. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly
urgent for China to speed up reforms and foster standardization in
the research and development market to make effective use of its
current laboratory resources.
(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, November 4, 2002)