From May 8 to June 8, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is seeking public comments on the development of four mandatory national standards for the safety of lithium-ion batteries and battery packs used in electronic devices. These four standards include:

l  GB31241.1 Safety of lithium-ion cells and batteries used in electronic and electrical equipment - Part 1: General requirements

l  GB31241.3 Safety of lithium-ion cells and batteries used in electronic and electrical equipment - Part 3: Electric tools

l  GB31241.4 Safety of lithium-ion cells and batteries used in electronic and electrical equipment —Part 4: toys

l  GB31241.5 Safety of lithium-ion cells and batteries used in electronic and electrical equipment - Part 5: household electric appliances

These projects originated from the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Management System in the Electronics Industry" published by the State Council in September, 2022, which requires to include "lithium-ion batteries and battery packs used in electronic products, and portable power sources" under China’s compulsory product certification schemes. To support the future implementation of the compulsory certification of such products, China will integrate the already published mandatory national standard " GB 31241-2022 Lithium-ion cells and batteries used in portable electronic equipment—Safety technical specification" and other related standards into six mandatory standards. In addition to the aforementioned four standards, these six standards also include GB 31241.2 for portable electronic products and GB 31241.6 for e-cigarettes, which will be initiated soon.

Among the four standards being prepared, GB 31241.1 will specify only the general requirements, while the other standards will be converted from previous sector standards SJ/T 11808-2022, SJ/T 11815-2022, and SJ/T 11778-2021, respectively. Relevant enterprises are encouraged to actively provide feedback on these standard projects.