GB/T 42388-2023Guidelines for monitoring of consumer product safety (English PDF)

Foreword

This document was issued on 17 March 2023 by the State Administration for Market Regulation; Standardization Administration of the PRC and takes effect on 1 October 2023.

It is a GB/T standard: recommended rather than compulsory, but it is the text a Chinese reviewer applies when assessing a submission.

1 Scope

GB/T 42388-2023 covers how a programme of consumer product safety monitoring is run, from the principles it rests on to the records it leaves behind. Legality opens the basic principles: the content, the procedures and the methods of monitoring are expected to meet the relevant national laws and regulations. The document then follows the process itself — what is monitored, the preparation beforehand, which begins with collecting safety information through a range of channels, and the drawing up of a monitoring plan in which the purpose and the results it is meant to reach are written down before a sample is taken. Sample safety testing, evaluation of the results with the help of people expert in the field, the writing of the monitoring report against the objectives of the plan, and the management of the document records, kept legible and easy to identify and retrieve, close the sequence. Monitoring only carries weight if it can be reconstructed afterwards, since a finding that no plan, no sample and no record stands behind is difficult to act on. Of use to market regulators, product safety and certification bodies, testing laboratories, and retailers running surveillance of their own.

This document provides guidelines for monitoring of consumer product safety;

including basic principles, monitoring process, monitoring objects, preparations before

monitoring, formulation of monitoring plan, sample safety testing, monitoring result

evaluation, monitoring report writing, document records management, etc.

This document is applicable to industries, enterprises and other organizations carrying

out activities related to monitoring of consumer product safety.

2 Normative references

The contents of the following documents, through normative references in this text,

constitute indispensable provisions of this document. Among them, for dated references,

only the edition corresponding to that date applies to this document. For undated

references, the latest edition (including all amendments) applies to this document.

GB/T 27020 Conformity assessment - Requirements for the operation of various

types of bodies performing inspection

GB/T 30136 Guide for collecting and processing of consumer products safety risk

information

3 Terms and definitions

The following terms and definitions apply to this document.

3.1

Consumer product

Products designed and manufactured primarily, but not exclusively, for personal use,

including product components, parts, accessories, instructions for use, and packaging.

[Source: GB/T 35248-2017, 2.2]

3.2

Monitoring of consumer product safety

A series of activities such as information collection, monitoring plan formulation,

monitoring plan implementation, and monitoring result evaluation to grasp the safety

status of consumer products.

4 Basic principles

4.1 Legality

The content, procedures, and methods for monitoring of consumer product safety

should meet the requirements of relevant national laws and regulations.

4.2 Comprehensiveness

The monitoring of consumer product safety should cover all aspects of the life cycle of

consumer products. It not only monitors known safety hazards; but also pays attention

to the identification, research and judgment of new safety hazards.

4.3 Scientificity

The monitoring of consumer product safety should ensure that the monitoring content

is reasonable and standardized; the monitoring process is complete and clear; the

monitoring method is scientific and effective; the monitoring data is objective and

accurate.

4.4 Timeliness

The monitoring of consumer product safety should be carried out within the life cycle

of consumer products; should actively adopt advanced technical means; improve the

advancement of monitoring technologies and methods, the extensiveness of

information collection, and the timeliness of processing feedback.

4.5 Protectiveness

When the monitoring of consumer product safety involves sensitive information of

individuals or organizations, it is advisable to establish a management system, to ensure

that the information is circulated and used within a controllable range.

4.6 Dynamism

The monitoring of consumer product safety is a process of continuous communication,

feedback, and continuous improvement. It is appropriate to, according to the level of

technological development, social development, and quality control, dynamically

adjust the monitoring plan of consumer product safety. And according to the changes in

consumer product safety hazards, timely adjust the monitoring objects, sampling areas,

testing items, and monitoring frequency.

- Applicable implementation standards are about to change;

- Other situations where safety monitoring is necessary.