GB/T 41848-2022Guidelines for information feedback of consumer products safety (English PDF)

3.1 Consumer product

Consumer product refers to a product mainly but not limited to be designed and produced for personal use, including product components, parts, accessories, instructions for use and packaging. [source: GB/T 35248-2017, 2.2]

3.2 Consumer

Consumer refers to an individual who purchases or uses property, products or services for his own personal purposes.

5.1 Methods of Classification

In accordance with the convenience of information management, development and utilization, determine the mode of information classification. Commonly used classification methods include classification by information source, classification by information content and classification by impact and consequences, etc.

5.2 Classification by Information Source

In accordance with information source, the feedback information of consumer products safety can be divided into:

a) Information fed back by consumers: consumer products safety information fed back by consumers through telephone, internet and letters, etc.;

b) Information fed back by industry organizations: mainly includes consumer products safety information fed back by social groups, such as: consumer product industry associations, chambers of commerce and alliances, etc.;

c) Information fed back by enterprises: consumer products safety information fed back by upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain during the process of consumer product design, production and distribution, etc.;

d) Information fed back by third-party institutions: mainly includes consumer products safety information grasped or released by institutions, such as: domestic and foreign scientific research institutes, testing technology institutions, academic groups, hospitals, injury accident appraisal institutions, consumer rights protection institutions and professional media institutions, etc.;

e) Information fed back by government departments: mainly includes consumer products safety information released by government departments related to consumer products supervision in China and foreign countries.

5.3 Classification by information content

In accordance with information content, the feedback information of consumer products safety can be divided into:

a) Information on design and production: including design quality review results and first article identification, consumer products function test, acceptance inspection and routine test pass rate, non-conforming product analysis, corrective measures and effects, improvement and remodeling of consumer products, etc.;

b) Information on usage: including the hours and times of use of consumer products per year and season, the environmental conditions of usage, the number of times, location and degree of consumer products that have failed, and vulnerable parts, etc.;

c) Information on maintenance: including the timing and conditions of consumer products failure and specific technical data describing the failure, the tools used to repair consumer products, the time and frequency of overhaul, the specific parts of partial overhaul and the main technical data after overhaul, as well as the relevant data of tests performed on consumer products after repair, etc.;

d) Information on management: including repair materials, repair equipment, spare accessories and protective gears purchased by users, etc.;

e) Information on storage: including storage environment, storage time, storage location, storage mode, storage loss and quality deterioration during storage of consumer products, etc.

5.4 Classification by Impact and Consequences

In accordance with impact and consequences, the feedback information of consumer products safety can be divided into:

a) Abnormal safety information: feedback information of safety that does not satisfy the specified requirements in the design, development, production, testing and use of consumer products, affects the completion of specified tasks, and causes or may cause personnel or property loss;

b) Normal safety information: feedback information of safety that satisfies the specified requirements in the design, development, production, testing and use of consumer products.

6.1 General Rules

6.1.1 Subject and mechanism of information feedback of consumer products safety

The subject of information feedback of consumer products safety includes: consumers, upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain, industry organizations and authoritative institutions. A two-way feedback mechanism is adopted. The subject and mechanism of information feedback of consumer products safety are shown in Figure 1.

6.2.2 Information fed back by consumers

The consumers may feed back information through the following modes:

a) Development and design stage of consumer products: through user participation in the design of relevant information feedback channels (such as: questionnaires, interviews and trial evaluations), provide feedback on the demand information of consumer products safety;

b) Usage and after-sales stage of consumer products: through after-sales service hotline, complaint hotline, online complaint platform, online evaluation, on-site complaints and other active collection modes of the supplier, feed back information to the supplier.

6.2.3 Information fed back by upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain

The upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain may feed back the consumer products safety information through the following modes:

a) During the design stage, feed back the grasped safety information and relevant requirements to the consumer products design department;

b) Provide the supplier with information, such as: the enterprise's production and operation qualifications, corresponding qualifications and raw materials (or parts) qualification certificates, etc.;

c) Through the technology of Internet of Things, such as: barcode, radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless sensing and rapid detection, realize automatic feedback and collection of safety information;

d) Through after-sales service hotline, complaint hotline, online complaint platform, online evaluation, on-site complaints and other active collection modes of the supplier, feedback information to the supplier.

6.2.4 Information fed back by industry organizations

The industry organizations (including consumer products industry associations, chambers of commerce, alliances and other social groups) may feed back the consumer products safety information through the following modes:

a) Carry out consumer products safety evaluation or other relevant research, and feed back the results to the supplier in an open or cooperative mode;

b) Carry out training courses or seminars related to consumer products safety, and feed back information, such as: prominent problems and weak links in consumer products safety to the supplier in the form of training courses or seminars;

c) Through after-sales service hotline, complaint hotline, online complaint platform, on-site complaints and other active collection modes of the supplier, feed back information to the supplier.

6.2.5 Information fed back by authoritative institutions

The authoritative institutions (mainly including domestic and foreign scientific research institutes, testing technology institutions, injury accident appraisal institutions, consumer rights protection institutions, professional media institutions and consumer products safety regulatory institutions, etc.) may feedback the consumer products safety information through the following modes:

a) The domestic and foreign scientific research institutes, testing technology institutions and consumer rights protection institutions carry out consumer products safety evaluation or other relevant research, and feed back the results to the supplier in an open or cooperative mode;

b) The testing technology institutions carry out inspection and testing services for consumer products, and provide the supplier with inspection and testing reports or inform the supplier of the found safety risks;

c) The injury accident appraisal institutions feed back the consumer products injury information to the supplier in the form of appraisal reports;

d) The consumer rights protection institutions feed back the received consumer products complaints and reported information to the relevant suppliers through the modes of telephone and email, etc.;

e) All kinds of professional media institutions, such as: radio, television, newspapers, internet and advertising, feed back safety information to the supplier in an open mode;

f) The consumer products safety regulatory institutions directly contact the supplier to communicate and deal with the safety issues, and publicly release consumer products safety information, including recall information, risk warning information, non-conforming product and enterprise list information, etc.

6.3 Information Processing

6.3.1 Information collection

Timely and comprehensively record the relevant feedback information and utilize information technology to establish an information-oriented collection mechanism to collect information fed back by industry organizations and authoritative institutions in an open form.

6.3.2 Information storage

Store feedback information and processing information. When storing information, the following contents should be considered:

a) Establish a persistent mechanism to ensure uninterrupted storage of information; feed back the response information to consumers' product demands;

b) For information like the consumers' complaints and suggestions, provide feedbacks through the modes of follow-up phone calls, on-site return visits, post and telegram return visits, and network platform return visits, etc.

6.4.2 Feedback of processing information to upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain

The modes of feeding back the processing information to the upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain include:

a) Unblock the design and development participation channels of the upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain, and feedback the response information to the product demands of the upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain;

b) Provide requirements for the raw materials (or parts) required for the production of consumer products and qualification requirements for the manufacturing enterprises of raw materials (or parts);

c) Through the technology of Internet of Things, such as: barcode, RFID, wireless sensing and rapid detection, etc., realize automatic feedback of safety processing information;

d) In response to information, for example, complaints and suggestions from upstream and downstream of the supply chain, provide feedbacks through the modes of follow-up phone calls, on-site return visits, post and telegram return visits, and network platform return visits, etc.

6.4.3 Feedback of processing information to industry organizations

The modes of feeding back the processing information to the industry organizations include:

a) For consumer products safety evaluation or other research carried out by industry organizations, provide feedbacks through the modes of public statements or declarations, conference discussions, on-site communication, telephone communication and email communication, etc.;

b) In response to information, for example, complaints and suggestions from upstream and downstream of the supply chain, provide feedbacks through the modes of follow-up phone calls, on-site return visits, post and telegram return visits, and network platform return visits, etc.

6.4.4 Feedback of processing information to authoritative institutions

The modes of feeding back the processing information to the authoritative institutions include: […]