TITLE: CHINA HOUSING MARKET AND NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY'S ROLE IN THE CHINA HOUSING MARKET - BEIJING

SUBJECT COUNTRY(IES): CHINA

POST OF ORIGIN: BEIJING

SERIES:INTERNATIONAL MARKET INSIGHT

ITA INDUSTRY CODE: CON

DATE OF REPORT: 11/19/99

DELETION DATE: 11/14/00

AUTHOR: THESSALONIKA T BENNY

APPROVING OFFICER: WILLIAM ZARIT

NUMBER OF PAGES: 4

I. SUMMARY. In cooperation with the US and Foreign Commercial Service, NIST, (National Institute of Standards and Technology) invited 24 Chinese leaders on codes and standards to a two week building standards workshop in the United States. Delegation members were from Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai Tianjin and Xian. The workshop was well received by all participants, who are now anxious to continue working together on better understanding and harmonizing Chinese and US building codes and standards.

Related IMI's include: National Institute of Standards and Technology Role In China Housing Market -- General Feedback and

National Institute of Standards and Technology Role In China Housing Market -- Shanghai Feedback END SUMMARY.

THE NIST WORKSHOP

NIST, (National Institute of Standards and Technology)which is a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, coordinated with the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service in China to select the best candidates for a two week program in Gaithersberg, MD on building codes and standards. Careful attention was paid to selecting a broad cross section of individuals representing many cities and provinces, government agencies and businesses, and working level and decision-making positions.

Prior to the group leaving for their workshop, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou FCS offices hosted briefing sessions for the participants and U.S. businesspeople in the building materials field. The workshop agenda was given out and discussed, with comments transmitted to NIST, for further fine tuning of their program.

In addition to covering all costs for the delegation, NIST paid for one FCS representative to accompany the group throughout the program, providing additional translation, cross-cultural and logistical support to the delegation. An agenda of the entire schedule is supplied at the end of this IMI for reference on programs and speakers.

DEBRIEFING SESSION

After the delegation returned to China, the same three FCS offices that had hosted a briefing hosted a debriefing. Again, Chinese participants and U.S. company representatives were invited for the discussions.

In the case of Beijing, the debriefing session was held on November 9, 1999 in the Beijing FCS conference room. Participants from the Chinese side included the following:

Mr. Qi Ji, delegation leader and Director General, Dept. of Standards and Norms, Ministry of Construction,

Mr. Li Yinqing, Deputy Director, Institute of Building Fire Research of China Academy of Building Research,

Mr. Chen Zhong, Director, China Institute of Building Standard Design & Research of China Building Technology Development Center,

Mr. Ni Zhaopeng, Deputy Director, Dept. of Fire Codes of Tianjin Fire Research Institute, Ministry of Public Security,

Mr. Lin Jianping, Deputy Director, Institute of Residential Building & Installations of China Building Technology Development Center,

Mr. Gao Xiaowang, Deputy Director, China National Center for Quality Supervision and Test of Construction Engineering,

Ms. Wang Qiaoyun, Chief, Standard Administration Section of State Building Materials Standardization Institute, and

Ms. Shen Wen, Senior Engineer, Fire Dept. of Ministry of Public Security.

Participants from the U.S. side included:

Ms. Grace Zheng, Representative, American Forest & Paper Association Beijing Office,

Mr. Tate Miller, President, Tungsman Industrials, Inc.

Mr. Emory Williams Jr., President, BureBlock Company,

Mr. Clark Baurer, AIA, SE, Director of China Operations, McBride & Kelley Architects Ltd.

Each participant was asked to comment on what they had learned at the workshop and what they wanted to see as the next steps to further cooperation on building better housing in China. Ideas that came out of this included:

Further cooperation on research projects for fire prevention.

Finding a way to harmonize the US and Chinese codes requirements so that products tested in the US would have known equivalents in the Chinese testing system.

The current Chinese system is based on the German and ISO systems, which are more internationally-recognized. If the US system were more internationally-oriented it would be easier to adopt more US standards.

The possibility of co-testing, or having China's test results recognized in the US and vice versa was brought up as an option for a future outcome.

Participants wanted more exchanges. They also wanted the US side to learn from the Chinese. An offer came up to provide the US copies of Chinese codes.

The workshop in Gaithersberg was a good, broad overview, and now they wanted to get deeper on specific topics. Fire codes especially were mentioned.

Mr. Qi wanted to have further cooperation, and offered both the delegation members and himself as points of support if issues of codes, standards and norms came up that needed help from the Chinese government.

Due to time constraints the meeting closed before all participants could voice their specific views, but they were all interested in continuing the dialog begun with this NIST program, and in a positive light for US exporters.

The Commercial Section of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, part of the worldwide network of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, helps U.S. firms export their goods and services to China. To accomplish this mission we conduct a number of services on behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC), including our Gold Key Service, which includes arranging meetings with potential Chinese distributors, agents, or joint venture partners. For information on the Gold Key or other USDOC services, contact the U.S.-based Export Assistance Center nearest you, or contact us at 86/10/6532-6924, fax: 86/10/6532-3297, or email: OBeijing@cs.doc.gov. We are also on the web at www.usembassy-china.org.cn.