GB/T 45353-2025Guideline for quality grading of consumer products - Household electrical appliances (English PDF)

1 Scope

This document establishes the basic principles, the elements of standard content and the grading flow for the quality grading of household electrical appliances; specifies the requirements for the selection of the product categories to be graded and of the grading technical indicators, for the determination of the test methods and for the grading itself; and puts forward the decision rules for quality grading and the method of marking the grade.

This document applies to the quality grading of particular household electrical appliances.

2 Normative references

The contents of the following document constitute indispensable provisions of this document through normative reference in the text. 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 44164-2024 General rules for quality grading of consumer products.

3 Terms and definitions

Household electrical appliance: an electrical appliance used by non-professional persons in a household or dwelling, the rated voltage of which does not exceed 250 V for single-phase alternating current supplied appliances and does not exceed 480 V for other appliances.

Quality: the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics of the appliance fulfils requirements. Note: characteristic means a distinguishing feature, including physical, sensory, temporal, ergonomic and functional features. [Source: GB/T 19000-2016, 3.6.2, modified]

Quality grading: the process of dividing the quality of a product into grades by scientific evaluation and of stating the product quality information openly. [Source: GB/T 44164-2024, 3.3]

4 Basic principles

The contents of Clause 4 of GB/T 44164-2024 apply to this document.

5 Elements of standard content

The contents of Annex A of GB/T 44164-2024 apply to this document.

6 Grading flow

The quality grading of household electrical appliances should follow the flow shown in Figure 1.

The grading flow mainly comprises selecting the category of household electrical appliance to be graded, selecting the grading technical indicators, determining the test methods for the indicators, determining the indicator values and determining the method of marking the grade. The particulars are given in Clause 7 to Clause 12.

7 Selecting the product categories to be graded

Household electrical appliances whose quality is not easily distinguished or recognized, and where the asymmetry of quality information between supply side and demand side needs to be reduced further, shall be selected for quality grading.

Key household electrical appliances with large market demand and a high degree of attention shall be selected for quality grading.

Household electrical appliance products shall be determined in accordance with national standards and industry standards, and the particular category shall be made clear, such as refrigerator, room air conditioner or washing machine.

Quality grading shall be carried out in combination with the basic performance and the reliability technical indicators of the household electrical appliance product, and the consistency of the quality of the products made by the enterprise shall be taken into account.

8 Selecting the grading technical indicators

Requirements for the selection of indicators. Grading technical indicators shall preferably be selected from within the scope of national standards and industry standards, and the indicators shall have unified and standardized test methods.

Grading technical indicators which are easy to judge objectively, which can be perceived and which are measurable and comparable should be selected from among the indicators related to the final benefit to the user.

Core technical indicators which are representative and which can directly reflect the characteristics and quality level of the product shall be selected for grading. Provided that the differences in product performance can still be distinguished, the number of grading indicators shall be kept small, and it is advisable to select three to six key core indicators.

The number of grades for each technical indicator selected for household electrical appliances of the same category shall be kept the same.

Selection of indicators. The grading technical indicators for a particular household electrical appliance are selected according to relevance and to the requirements of 8.1; examples of technical indicators are given in Table 1. Under the category of performance the examples are freezing capacity, washing ratio and clean air delivery rate, and performance indicators are selected according to the characteristics of the particular household electrical appliance. Under noise the examples are rated noise and air blowing noise. Under energy efficiency the examples are electricity consumption, water consumption and standby power. Under reliability the examples are service life, durability and freedom from failure. Under usability the examples are effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and multi-functionality. Under intelligence the examples are intelligence capability, meaning the capability to perceive, decide, execute and learn, intelligent functions such as a fault prediction function, and an intelligence index; products which claim to have intelligent functions should have intelligence evaluation indicators added. Under healthiness the examples are sterilization and purification; products which claim to have health functions should have health evaluation indicators added. A further category of other indicators is provided.

9 Determination of the test methods

The test methods in national standards or industry standards shall be used in preference, or the test method shall be specified in the quality grading standard for the particular household electrical appliance.

10 Quality grading

Grading requirements. The quality grading of household electrical appliances may, according to the characteristics of the product, take the form of technical indicator grading or of overall quality grading.

The number of grades should be three to five, and should be as few as possible.

The values of the quality grading technical indicators for different grades shall differ from one another by a clear margin and be easy to distinguish.

In the quality grading of household electrical appliances, the highest grade of a technical indicator shall reflect the highest level of that quality indicator at present, and the lowest grade shall at least satisfy the provisions for qualified products in the applicable national standard or industry standard.

The quality grading of household electrical appliances should take full account of such features as product supply and demand, technical level and cost and benefit, as well as of the requirements of relevant standards at home and abroad.

Grading methods — technical indicator grading. Where, for the purpose of giving users differentiated guidance in purchasing, the performance and functional features and the quality level of the household electrical appliance can be reflected, the technical indicator grading method may be used.

In the quality grading of technical indicators, the division from high to low may be made in accordance with the characteristics of the particular household electrical appliance, and the grading symbols shall conform to the requirements of Annex C of GB/T 44164-2024.

Grading methods — overall quality grading. Where, for the purpose of giving users unified and intuitive quality grading information, the characteristics of the household electrical appliance call for an overall evaluation to reflect the quality grade of the product, the overall quality grading method may be used.

Overall quality grading is divided from high to low on the basis of the results of the grading of the particular technical indicators, and the grading symbols shall conform to the requirements of Annex C of GB/T 44164-2024.

The overall quality grade is determined by counting the total number of grading symbols A obtained from the technical indicator grading. An example of the relation between the total number of technical indicator grading symbols A and the overall quality grade is given in Table 2. Where six indicators are selected, a total of not more than 8 gives grade A, 9 to 14 gives AA, 15 to 20 gives AAA, 21 to 26 gives AAAA and 27 to 30 gives AAAAA. Where five indicators are selected, not more than 7 gives A, 8 to 12 gives AA, 13 to 17 gives AAA, 18 to 22 gives AAAA and 23 to 25 gives AAAAA. Where four indicators are selected, not more than 5 gives A, 6 to 9 gives AA, 10 to 13 gives AAA, 14 to 17 gives AAAA and 18 to 20 gives AAAAA. Where three indicators are selected, not more than 4 gives A, 5 to 7 gives AA, 8 to 10 gives AAA, 11 to 13 gives AAAA and 14 to 15 gives AAAAA.

In the quality grading standard for a particular household electrical appliance, the overall quality grade may also be obtained by assigning weights to the several technical indicators and calculating from them.

11 Decision rules

The contents of Clause 6 of GB/T 44164-2024 apply to this document.

12 Method of marking the grade

Besides the provisions of Clause 7 and of C.4 of GB/T 44164-2024, the following are added.

For household electrical appliances of different categories, one of the following may be chosen freely to express the quality grading result: display of the technical indicator grading, display of the overall quality grading, or display of the two combined.

For household electrical appliances of the same category, the form of display selected shall be the same.