On December 17, 2025, the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) issued the Notice on Terminating of Relevant Works of “Forerunner” System for Enterprise Standards (hereinafter referred to as “the Terminating Notice”), announcing the termination of the system immediately, together with relevant requirements.

The "forerunner" title of enterprise standards referred to the standards of products and services that enterprises publicly declare and are at the leading level in core indicators within the comparable range of the same sector, usually making the products or services that met these standards gain certain market advantages at the regional level. This system was an encouraging policy implemented by China intending to implement the new development concept and promote high-quality development. Such standards were disclosed on a national platform managed and organized by CNIS.  The approach for an enterprise to receive such title often requires the applicant to be registered within a province or region, and the local authorities arrange for third-party assessment institutions to evaluate the level of the enterprise standards being applied, and the quality of the corresponding products or services. The applicable products and services shall come from consumer goods, equipment manufacturing, and services. One of the specific technical requirements for getting the “forerunner) title is that the technical indicators included the enterprise standards should be higher than national standards, sector standards, and local standards.

This Initiative started in June of 2018 when a notice to establish such system was issued by eight national ministries including the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) etc., and has been considered as a quite significant initiative for improving product quality while optimizing China’s enterprise standard system. The Notice was a bit surprising as there was no clear sign or indication of its termination. But the requirements listed in the Notice shows a certain scale of determination on end the system, as it is stated that:

-   All relevant review/assessment related to the unfinished applications for “forerunners” in 2025 must terminate immediately.

-   No types of evaluation, certification, consultation and promotion activity shall be carried out by any third-party institutions or bodies.

-   None of the “forerunner” title receiving entities are allowed to use the title, logo or certificate of the initiative for commercial promotion.

For foreign stakeholders, especially the MNCs that have factories and those who invested enterprises in China, the termination of the “forerunner” initiative shall directly reduce the complex for participating or understanding the China standardization system and the relevant works for enterprises.