Every headline about a phone catching fire or a power bank banned from a flight traces back to the same thing: a lithium cell that failed under stress. China regulates that risk hard — and if you sell portable electronics there, the rulebook has a name: GB 31241.
It's the mandatory national standard for the safety of lithium-ion cells and batteries in portable devices — phones, laptops, tablets, power banks, earbuds. The current edition, GB 31241-2022, has been in force since January 1, 2024. "Mandatory" is the key word: this is not a best-practice guide you can skip. A battery that fails its tests has no business on the Chinese market.
If your product ships with a lithium battery and you're selling into China, this standard is not optional reading. Here's what it demands.
What GB 31241-2022 Covers
The standard applies to lithium-ion cells and battery packs used in portable electronic equipment. It defines both the safety requirements and the test methods used to verify them, spanning electrical, environmental, and mechanical abuse conditions.
| Test category | Examples of what is checked |
|---|---|
| Electrical safety | Overcharge, over-discharge, external short circuit, forced discharge |
| Environmental safety | Thermal abuse, temperature cycling, low pressure (altitude) |
| Mechanical safety | Crush, impact, drop, vibration |
| Protection circuitry | Behaviour of the battery management / protection system under fault conditions |
The pass condition for abuse tests is essentially the same idea across the board: the cell or battery must not catch fire or explode under the specified fault.
Why It Matters for Exporters
If you manufacture or sell portable electronics — or the battery packs inside them — into China, GB 31241 compliance is part of getting products to market. It is frequently referenced alongside CCC certification requirements for certain product categories, and it interacts with shipping and logistics rules, since lithium batteries are classed as dangerous goods in transport.
- Device makers integrating lithium batteries into portable products
- Battery pack and cell suppliers selling into the Chinese supply chain
- Power bank brands, a category under heightened scrutiny after airline and courier restrictions
- Importers and testing labs verifying conformity
How It Relates to International Standards
"We already have IEC 62133" is the sentence that gets products rejected. GB 31241 tests similar things to IEC 62133 and UL 2054, but it is a separate Chinese standard with its own tests and its own pass or fail rules. An international certificate does not count as proof for China.
So even if your battery is approved in Europe or the US, you still have to test it again against the Chinese standard before you sell it in China. If you skip this step, your product can pass everywhere else and still be stopped at the Chinese border.
Practical Steps for Compliance
- Confirm whether your product category falls under GB 31241 and any linked CCC scheme
- Review your cell and pack design against the electrical, environmental, and mechanical tests
- Verify the protection circuit behaviour under fault conditions
- Have testing performed by an accredited Chinese laboratory
- Keep documentation aligned for both certification and dangerous-goods shipping
Your engineers can't design to a standard they can't read — and the official GB 31241-2022 is published in Chinese only. Don't let a translation gap turn into a failed test or a blocked shipment.
Get the full English PDF of GB 31241-2022 now — instant download, delivered in seconds, invoice included. Need a related charging or battery standard too? Just ask.