China Urges Carmakers to Avoid Irrational Competition
Beijing (ANTARA) — Four Chinese government departments have urged major carmakers to refrain from irrational competition, strengthen the management of innovative vehicle design and research-and-development (R&D) testing and validation, and ensure product safety, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday (16 October).
The appeal was made at a meeting on Thursday (15 October) attended by representatives of more than 30 major carmakers. It was convened by relevant offices under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Officials set out requirements in a draft circular on strengthening the management of innovative vehicle design and R&D testing and validation, and reported issues identified during previous supervisory inspections.
The meeting urged carmakers to fulfil their primary responsibility for product safety, strengthen compliance, and conduct comprehensive safety assessments and R&D testing and validation to eliminate potential safety risks.
It also called for honest and objective marketing, warning against false, exaggerated or misleading claims, promotional activities depicting traffic violations, and messages that encourage drivers to disregard their responsibility to drive safely.
Carmakers were also asked to strengthen safety safeguards for intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, improve safety assessment and testing management systems, reinforce production conformity assurance systems, and tighten supply-chain oversight.
The relevant authorities from the four departments will strengthen coordination, promote a special campaign to improve product quality, issue and implement the circular as soon as possible, and accelerate the drafting and revision of related standards.
They will also continue inspections of major carmakers, take strict action under laws and regulations against companies found to have problems, and make details of those cases public, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.