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)