In December 2001, the State General Bureau of Quality Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China issued a regulation on mandatory product certification. The mandatory product certification system replaced the original Quality Licensing System for Commodity Inspection and Safety Certification System for Electrical Equipment.
The abbreviation for Chinese mandatory certification is CCC or 3C. It is a statutory mandatory certification system relating to safety and it regulates the basic approach to the protection of the rights and interests of consumers and the protection of persons and safety, which is adopted by many international organizations. This system entered into force on 1 May 2002. According to Joint Notification No 38 of 2003, the time to implement the system was 1 August 2003. A number of products are subject to this certification system.