On April 7, 2024, the National Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) issued the Notice on the Filing Requirements of Direct Carbon-related Certification Rules (hereinafter referred to as “the Notice”), aiming at clarifying and specifying carbon-related certification activities by certification bodies.

The definition of “Direct Carbon-related Certification Rules” refers to the basic requirements and process for carbon-related certification on products, management systems and services in the basis of GHG emission quantification. The Notice only applies to the certification rules that are drafted by the certification bodies, or those rules that have been authorized to be implemented when the national one does not exist.

This document also present official categorization for certification rules under its scope into three types for certifications on product/services/management systems: carbon reduction/removal, carbon disclosure, and carbon neutrality.

Key requirements for the relevant certification rules include:

·   Such certification rules need to at least cover application scope, technical basis (technical specification, mandatory technical requirements or standards), qualifications of certification staff, certification model (when apply); data quality requirements, GHG quantification methods of certain specific sectors, implementing process, surveillance after certification and renewal process, requirements of certificate and mark, changing condition of certificate status. 

·   Certification rules that to be filed should not have similar or identical name with national carbon-related certification rules; certification rules are encouraged to prioritize the stipulations in international, national and sector standards, and it is NOT allowed to only adopt domestic and abroad carbon reduction systems such as Chinese Certified Emission Reduction (CCER), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Gold Standard (GS) etc.

·   Background database or emission factors should be selected in accordance with China’s sector developing status, while being fair and scientific.   

 Certification bodies with existing certification rules within the scope must apply and file their certification rules to the official online reporting platform if they haven’t done so. For those that are not comply with the requirements in the Notice, the corresponding certification rules shall be cancelled, and the certificates based on them should be revoked before April 30, 2024. Failing to follow the requirements for the certification rules or the stipulated deadline will lead to penalty by CNCA. 

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