A worker produces face masks at a factory in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province. Local government has encouraged enterprises to produce masks as China fights the epidemic. Photo: cnsphoto

Following so-called "quality concerns" over Chinese-made medical supplies to support overseas markets fight the COVID-19, China has further strengthened regulations on the quality and process of exports ranging from masks to test kits, which industry analysts said is "quite necessary" to build up an orderly and normal export industry.

According to the latest announcement by China's State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR), China will crack down on illegal acts such as falsifying and selling certificates by agencies who issue papers for domestic producers of masks, protection suits and other medical supplies for export, in a bid to enhance the effectiveness of certification and normalize market behavior.

Price hikes and fraud would also be severely punished, the SAMR said in a notice posted on its website on Sunday.

Liu Weijun, an official at the SAMR, told a press conference on Sunday that the administration has compiled a guidance on Chinese medical products' exports to the EU and US, including the two places' registration requirement, in a bid to help Chinese firms directly obtain solutions for exports.

To enter the European and US markets, exporters must have the Conformite Europeenne (CE) license or the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permit.

"To enter the EU markets, certificates issued by their notified bodies are required, and in China, there are over 600 authorized agencies doing certification, which are not only aimed at exports," Liu said.

He suggested that Chinese exporters handle their certification through authorized agencies. It is vital to understand the access requirement of export destinations.

The move targeting the certification process is of vital importance to the whole industry which has been confounded recently by mushrooming third-party unauthorized certification agencies, an industry analyst said.

In accordance with the surging number of companies that are rushing to shift to mask production in a bid to profit from the booming overseas demand, third-party agents providing export qualification services are also eyeing the lucrative market. However, some agencies have no required qualifications and have issued many invalid licenses, said a director at Shanghai Shiyou Supply Chain Management Co, who only gave his surname as Zhang.

The number of such agents has surged in the thousands, who claim that they can help mask makers obtain export licenses within two or three weeks, while raking in 20,000 yuan ($2,800) to 30,000 yuan, Zhang said. 

In comparison, "it actually takes half a year to obtain the certificate and the fees would usually fall between 150,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan," he noted.

"It's a good thing for the market that the government has started cracking down on irresponsible, dishonest and unprofessional behavior, which has disrupted the normal certification practice," he added.

The SAMR move came after newly-launched measures to ensure the quality of medical supplies exports amid the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far infected more than 1.2 million people worldwide and killed 64,703 people, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.

Starting Wednesday, exporters of medical products including COVID-19 test kits, medical face masks, medical protective suits, ventilators and infrared thermometers need to provide extra documentation when they go through Customs clearance, according to China's Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM).

Customs will release the exports based on certificates of registration approved by medical product administrations, according to the notice jointly issued with the General Administration of Customs (GAC) and the National Medical Products Administration.

Such stricter regulations on exports' quality have aroused some concerns that China might ban some exports of medical supplies.

Jiang Fan, a first-level inspector of the Department of Foreign Trade at MOFCOM, told a press conference on Sunday that China has not restricted such exports and will not do so. Chinese exports of medical supplies have climbed steadily and expanded in an orderly fashion aiding the international community to fight the coronavirus.

China has signed commercial procurement contracts for medical supplies with 54 countries and three international organizations as of Saturday, she said.

Latest data from the GAC showed that China has exported medical supplies worth 10.2 billion yuan to overseas markets from March 1 to Saturday amid the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, including 3.86 billion masks worth 7.72 billion yuan, 37.52 million protective suits worth 910 million yuan and 16,000 ventilators worth 310 million yuan.