Last updated: 28 September 2026.
Quick answer. CCC is China's compulsory certification for products listed in the mandatory catalogue. A designated certification body issues it, and its validity, suspension, cancellation or withdrawal must be reported to the market regulator. From 30 September 2026, basic certificate information is queryable on the regulator's site as well as the issuer's.
CCC is China's mandatory certification for goods placed on its domestic market. Here is who issues it, how to check a certificate and what it does not cover.
Everything below comes from announcements published by China's market regulator and its certification and accreditation administration, retrieved on 28 September 2026 and listed at the end. The announcements are published in Chinese; the English renderings of product categories on this page are ours.
If a Chinese supplier tells you a product is "CCC certified", three separate things are being asserted at once: that the product falls inside China's mandatory certification catalogue, that a certification body designated by the Chinese regulator issued a certificate, and that the certificate is still valid today. Only the third one is about the paperwork you have been shown.
The Chinese system is unusual in how much of that is now checkable from outside. Under rules that take effect on 30 September 2026, certification bodies must publish their own free, real-time certificate-validity query, and the regulator's site carries basic certificate information for certificates issued under rules the regulator itself wrote.
The clearest statement of what the catalogue does comes from the regulator's own announcement adjusting certification modes for part of it. For the products it lists, the announcement sets out the same four triggers in one sentence: a product shall obtain a CCC certification certificate and bear the CCC certification mark before leaving the factory, being sold, imported or used in other business activities. The announcement is published in Chinese; the four triggers, and the English wording above, are our rendering of that sentence.
That sentence is the whole point of the system, and it is worth reading twice:
So CCC is a China domestic-market conformity requirement. It is not an export-market certification, and it is not a CE marking or a UL listing under another name. A product can be CCC certified and still have no CE marking, and the reverse is equally true.
The system has four layers, and the announcements name them.
| Layer | Role, as the announcements describe it |
|---|---|
| State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) | Publishes the announcements that create and adjust the obligations — the rules on reporting and certificate queries, the change of certification mode for listed products, and the general rules for reviewing a certification body's qualification |
| Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) | The administration within SAMR that handles designation and supervision. Its announcement cancelling designated business scopes is issued on the strength of the administrative licensing law and the measures for the administration of compulsory-certification bodies and laboratories |
| Designated certification bodies | The bodies that issue CCC certificates. Designation is by product scope, and a body's designated scope can be cancelled or withdrawn |
| Designated laboratories | The laboratories that test. They too hold designated scopes by product area, and those scopes are listed and can be cancelled |
The legal base is stated in the announcements themselves: the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Certification and Accreditation, together with the measures for the administration of certification bodies and of compulsory-certification bodies and laboratories.
One structural point follows that buyers routinely miss: a certificate is issued either under certification rules the regulator formulated, or under rules the certification body formulated itself. The 2026 reporting announcement distinguishes the two explicitly, and it matters, because the two routes have different query outcomes.
The reporting announcement requires a certification body to report the valid, suspended, cancelled or revoked status of a certificate to the reporting platform at the same moment it issues the certificate or makes the decision. In other words, the certificate you were sent a photograph of has a status that can change after it was issued — and the change is supposed to reach the regulator's platform immediately.
The same announcement sets reporting deadlines that tell you how current the underlying record should be.
| Information | Deadline the announcement sets |
|---|---|
| Certification plan | Reported at least 3 days before the plan is implemented; a change is reported before 23:00 on the day before the original start date; a cancellation or termination is reported before the plan is implemented or ends |
| Certification-result information — the activity, the personnel and the object certified | Within 1 day of the certification result being produced |
| Certificate status — valid, suspended, cancelled, revoked | At the same time as the certificate is issued or the decision is made |
| A branch office set up to carry out the body's certification activity | Within 10 days of the office being established |
The announcement also requires the reported information to be comprehensive, true and accurate, with no false information, misleading information or omissions.
This is the part worth putting in a purchase order, and it changed with the same announcement.
| Rule, effective 30 September 2026 | What it means for a buyer |
|---|---|
| A certification body must provide the public with a free, real-time and convenient way to query certificate validity, on its own website or by other means | There should be no paywall and no waiting for an email. If a supplier cannot point you at a live query, the announcement says the body should have published one |
| The query method must be reported to the administration and made public | The method is itself a published fact, not a favour |
| A body must not, by any means including prompts, guidance or link jumps, use the administration's website as the query method for its own certificates' validity | A supplier who says "just look it up on the government site" is describing a different route from the one the rules put first |
| For certificates issued under regulator-formulated rules, the public may also query basic certificate information on the administration's website. That information is supplied by the body, which is responsible for its truthfulness, accuracy and completeness | Two independent routes exist: the issuer's query and the administration's basic-information query |
| For certificates issued under the body's own rules, query through the body's method | Here the administration's site is not the route |
| Where a body's qualification is cancelled or revoked, or it is subject to an order to correct or an administrative penalty such as suspension for rectification, the administration's site adds a status marker to the body's name in the certificate basic-information query result | The status of the body is shown alongside the certificate. A previously good certificate from a body that has since been penalised is visible as such |
The marker is removed once the body completes its correction, the suspension period ends, or the certificates are transferred to another body with valid qualification. The announcement also states that the regulator will treat the operation of reporting systems and query channels as a factor in a body's qualification licensing and supervision.
The second useful idea in these announcements is that "designated" is not a blanket status. A body or a laboratory is designated for named product scopes, and the regulator publishes cancellations of those scopes.
The September 2026 cancellation announcement is a worked example. It cancels the compulsory-certification designated business scopes of one certification body and ten laboratories, and lists them by scope code. The scope codes in that list, with our English renderings of the Chinese category names, are:
| Scope code | Category as listed |
|---|---|
| CNCA-C01-01 | Wires and cables |
| CNCA-C02-01 | Circuit switches, and protective or connecting electrical apparatus (electrical accessories) |
| CNCA-C04-01 | Small-power motors — in the cancelled entry, the products covered by GB/T 12350 (torque above 3.0 Nm, motors without terminal boxes) |
| CNCA-C07-01 | Household and similar electrical appliances |
| CNCA-C09-02 | Portable power banks; lithium-ion batteries and battery packs |
| CNCA-C11-21 | Lithium-ion batteries for electric bicycles |
| CNCA-C11-22 | Chargers for electric bicycles |
| CNCA-C22-01 | Children's cycles |
| CNCA-C22-02 | Toys |
| CNCA-C22-03 | Child restraint systems for motor-vehicle occupants |
Two things follow that are easy to over-read. First, the codes are an organisational scheme for scopes of designation, and this page does not claim that the list above is the catalogue of products subject to CCC — it is the set of scopes named in one cancellation announcement. Second, a cancelled scope means that body or laboratory can no longer conduct designation work in that area; it does not by itself invalidate certificates issued earlier under that scope.
The most recent mode change is worth knowing about, because it is still in progress and it changes what a supplier can produce.
| Date | What the announcement requires |
|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | Designated certification bodies begin accepting CCC applications for the products listed below. For products holding a valid self-declaration, bodies are told to actively accept the self-declaration evaluation results and issue CCC certificates in their place, provided certification quality and risk remain controlled. The self-declaration system stops accepting or generating self-declarations for these products |
| 31 December 2026 | Enterprises must have completed conversion to a CCC certificate, and must have proactively cancelled the corresponding self-declarations |
| 1 January 2027 | The products must hold a CCC certificate and bear the CCC mark before leaving the factory, being sold, imported or used in other business activities. The self-declarations recorded in the conformity self-declaration reporting system are cancelled uniformly |
The products affected by that change are sixteen: fuses; small-power motors; electric drills; electric grinders; electric hammers; DC arc welding machines; TIG arc welding machines; MIG/MAG arc welding machines; plasma arc cutting machines; automotive safety glass; automotive seat belts; vehicle exterior lighting and light-signalling devices; motor-vehicle indirect vision devices; automotive seats and seat head restraints; vehicle travelling data recorders; and body retro-reflective markings.
The announcement adds one softening clause: where a product was already shipped off the production line within the validity of a self-declaration and is no longer produced, no conversion is needed and the goods may continue to be sold.
The practical reading, for a buyer: a self-declaration is not a certificate, and for the sixteen products above the self-declaration route is being closed. If a supplier's paperwork for one of them is dated before the conversion deadline, ask which of the three dates above it falls under.
| Ask | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|
| Which product, and which scope code | Designation is by scope. A supplier's certificate for one product line says nothing about another |
| Which certification body issued it | The body, its designation and its current status are all part of the picture |
| The certificate number, and the body's own query address | Under the 2026 rules the body must publish a free, real-time validity query; use that first |
| Whether the certificate was issued under regulator-formulated rules or the body's own rules | It decides whether the administration's site also carries the basic certificate information |
| The current status — valid, suspended, cancelled or revoked | Status can change after issue, and the change must be reported to the platform |
| Whether the issuing body carries a status marker on the administration's query result | The marker flags a body whose qualification was cancelled or revoked, or which is under a correction order or suspension |
| Whether the product needs a certificate at all, or a self-declaration is being converted | For the sixteen products above, the answer changed on 1 July 2026 and changes again on 1 January 2027 |
None of those questions requires you to interpret a Chinese standard. All of them are answerable from the two query routes the announcements create.
CCC sits alongside the other conformity questions buyers ask about Chinese suppliers. Our page on ASTM, CE and UL standards covers the marks a supplier may cite for export markets — a different question from this one. China RoHS against EU RoHS covers the substance-restriction regimes on each side, and REACH and RoHS covers the EU side in detail. For the documents that travel with the goods, see certificate of origin from China, and for how to check a supplier's own claims, see how to find a manufacturer in China and quality control.
CCC — the China Compulsory Certification — is the mandatory certification for products listed in China's compulsory certification catalogue. The regulator's own announcement states that products in the affected part of the catalogue must obtain a CCC certificate and bear the CCC mark before leaving the factory, being sold, imported or used in other business activities. Certificates are issued by certification bodies designated for named product scopes.
No, and the direction of the difference matters. CE marking and UL listing are conformity marks relevant to the markets that require them; CCC is the mark required for products placed on the Chinese market. The obligations in the announcements retrieved for this page are triggered by leaving the factory, sale, import or use in other business activities in China, not by exporting.
Two routes exist under rules effective 30 September 2026. First, the issuing certification body must publish a free, real-time and convenient certificate-validity query and must report that method to the administration; the rules also say a body may not use the administration's website as the query method for its own certificates' validity. Second, for certificates issued under certification rules the administration itself formulated, the public may also query basic certificate information on the administration's website, with the information supplied and vouched for by the body.
Yes. The reporting rules require a body to report a certificate's valid, suspended, cancelled or revoked status at the same time as it issues the certificate or makes the status decision, and the status must reach the reporting platform at that moment. Where a body's own qualification is cancelled or revoked, or it is under a correction order or suspension for rectification, the administration's certificate query result carries a status marker against the body's name.
For sixteen product types — including fuses, small-power motors, electric drills and grinders, several welding and cutting machines, automotive safety glass and seat belts, and vehicle lighting, seats, data recorders and reflective markings — the self-declaration route is being closed. Designated bodies began accepting CCC applications for them on 1 July 2026, conversion must be completed by 31 December 2026, and from 1 January 2027 the certificate and mark are required. Products already shipped within the validity of a self-declaration and no longer produced need no conversion.
All sources retrieved 28 September 2026. This page is an independent reading of the sources listed; the official pages themselves are the specification.
| Fact used on this page | Source |
|---|---|
| S1 — That products in the affected part of the compulsory certification catalogue must obtain a CCC certificate and bear the CCC certification mark before leaving the factory, being sold, imported or used in other business activities; that the certification mode for part of the catalogue is adjusted to a third-party certification evaluation; that the self-declarations concerned will be uniformly cancelled; that from 1 July 2026 designated certification bodies begin accepting CCC applications for the listed products and should accept and rely on valid self-declaration evaluation results when issuing certificates; that the self-declaration system stops accepting or generating such self-declarations; that enterprises must complete certificate conversion before 31 December 2026 and proactively cancel the corresponding self-declarations; that from 1 January 2027 the sixteen listed product types require a certificate and mark; that products already shipped within the validity of a self-declaration and no longer produced need no conversion and may continue to be sold; and the sixteen product types themselves (fuses, small-power motors, electric drills, electric grinders, electric hammers, DC arc welding machines, TIG arc welding machines, MIG/MAG arc welding machines, plasma arc cutting machines, automotive safety glass, automotive seat belts, vehicle exterior lighting and light-signalling devices, motor-vehicle indirect vision devices, automotive seats and seat head restraints, vehicle travelling data recorders, body retro-reflective markings) | State Administration for Market Regulation, Announcement No. 57 of 2025 on adjusting the certification mode of some products within the compulsory product certification catalogue, published 7 January 2026 (issued in Chinese; retrieved 28 September 2026) https://www.cnca.gov.cn/zwxx/gg/2025/art/2026/art_27223a9fb4d146b58b9a7fcb14d5a41a.html |
| S2 — The requirement for certification bodies operating in China to report certification plan information at least three days before a plan is implemented, plan changes before 23:00 on the day before the original start date, and cancellations or terminations before the plan is implemented or ends; the requirement to report certification-result activity, personnel and object information within one day of the result being produced; the requirement to report a certificate's valid, suspended, cancelled or revoked status at the same time as issuing the certificate or making the decision; the requirement to report a newly established branch within ten days; the requirement that reported information be comprehensive, true and accurate with no false, misleading or omitted information and no content violating law, basic certification norms or public order and good morals; the requirement that a body provide the public with free, real-time and convenient certificate-validity querying and report that method to the administration and make it public; the prohibition on a body using the administration's website as the query method for its own certificates' validity by prompts, link jumps or any other means; that for certificates issued under certification rules formulated by the administration the public may also query basic certificate information on the administration's website, the information being supplied by the body which is responsible for its truthfulness, accuracy and completeness; that for certificates issued under a body's own rules the query is through that body's method; that where a body's qualification is cancelled or revoked, or it is subject to an order to correct or an administrative penalty such as suspension for rectification, the administration's website adds a corresponding status marker to the body's name in the certificate basic-information query result, removed once correction is completed, the suspension period ends, or the certificates transfer to another body with valid qualification; that the administration will treat information reporting and query-channel operation as factors in qualification licensing and supervision; the legal base of the certification and accreditation regulations and the measures for the administration of certification bodies; and the effective date of 30 September 2026 | State Administration for Market Regulation, Announcement No. 28 of 2026 on strengthening the management of certification information reporting and certification certificate information querying, published 14 September 2026, effective 30 September 2026 (issued in Chinese; retrieved 28 September 2026) https://www.cnca.gov.cn/zwxx/gg/2026/art/2026/art_8714c8827adb4a21b5c83666110dd0a1.html |
| S3 — That the certification and accreditation administration cancelled the compulsory-certification designated business scopes of one designated certification body and ten designated laboratories on the bodies' own applications, on the basis of the administrative licensing law and the measures for the administration of compulsory product certification bodies and laboratories; the scope codes and categories listed, namely CNCA-C01-01 wires and cables, CNCA-C02-01 circuit switches and protective or connecting electrical apparatus (electrical accessories), CNCA-C04-01 small-power motors including the products covered by GB/T 12350 (torque above 3.0 Nm, motors without terminal boxes), CNCA-C07-01 household and similar electrical appliances, CNCA-C09-02 portable power banks and lithium-ion batteries and battery packs, CNCA-C11-21 lithium-ion batteries for electric bicycles, CNCA-C11-22 chargers for electric bicycles, CNCA-C22-01 children's cycles, CNCA-C22-02 toys, and CNCA-C22-03 child restraint systems for motor-vehicle occupants; and the publication date | Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, Announcement No. 21 of 2026 on cancelling the compulsory product certification designated business qualifications of certain certification bodies and laboratories in relevant fields, published 24 September 2026 (issued in Chinese; retrieved 28 September 2026) https://www.cnca.gov.cn/zwxx/gg/2026/art/2026/art_6f194014eefc469e969de17f6f3e6ec9.html |
| S4 — That the regulator published the general rules for the review of certification body qualification licensing, adopted at the seventeenth bureau meeting on 14 September 2026 and effective from publication; that the review comprises material review, on-site verification and expert evaluation; that the matters reviewed include establishing a certification body, expanding certification fields, amending the certification body approval certificate, renewing its validity, and cancelling it; that a certification body approval certificate is valid for six years and a renewal application must be filed thirty days before expiry; and that the legal base is the administrative licensing law, the certification and accreditation regulations, and the measures for the administration of certification bodies | State Administration for Market Regulation, Announcement No. 32 of 2026 publishing the General Rules for the Review of Certification Body Qualification Licensing, published 24 September 2026 (issued in Chinese; retrieved 28 September 2026) https://www.cnca.gov.cn/zwxx/gg/2026/art/2026/art_a998116d56b9489296fe218eb3c5a1e2.html |