China has set up a task force to formulate the country's standards for plasma display panels (PDP), a move intended to be the beginning of the country's efforts to standardize panel display technology.
Sources with the task force set up by the Ministry of Information Technology said it is headed by Chang Limin of the Institute of Standardization of Electronic Industry under the ministry.
Members of the task force also include Yan Xiaolin, director of the Panel Display Technology Institute under China's electronics giant TCL Group, and Qiong Yong, director of the Chemistry Department of Qinghua University.
The sources said establishing the country's own standards will not only facilitate the application and commercialization of the technology, but also help the country's information sector avoid potential troubles involving intellectual property rights with their overseas rivals.
About 30,000 PDP color TV sets were sold in 2002 on the Chinese mainland, and the figure jumped to 40,000 during the first five months of this year due to drastic price cuts.
It is predicted that about 80,000 to 100,000 PDP TV sets will be sold this year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2003)
