China Green Printing Enters Self-Declaration Phase: Platform Ready, First Pilots Go Online in July

Editor's note: A notice issued late last year, the “Notice on Implementing Green Printing for Bills and Vouchers,” outlined a self-declaration route: “the government designs the institutional framework, industry associations build the implementation platform, and testing institutions conduct testing and supervision.” The green printing self-declaration platform has now been initially completed, and in July the first pilot enterprises will begin making self-declarations online.

At present, green printing adoption is still driven mainly by green printing certification. Enterprises seeking certification are recommended by their province (region, municipality); their application materials are reviewed and guidance is offered; on-site technical services are provided according to company needs. These efforts have effectively supported a number of printing companies. Some regions with the right conditions have also used various practical methods to promote certification. Yet qualified companies able to provide certification services remain limited, while printers' demand for green certification keeps rising. This has slowed certification and recertification, and certification costs have further restricted how quickly green printing can be spread and promoted.

In 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television set out that green printing would move into a full promotion phase. The main task is to establish a green printing system across the whole printing industry. The core is to make green printing production a basic practice for enterprises and bring more printers into green production. Building a self-declaration platform system is one of the key approaches.

On November 4, 2013, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Certification and Accreditation Administration jointly issued the “Notice on Implementing Green Printing for Bills and Vouchers,” setting out the self-declaration approach: “the government designs the institutional framework, industry associations build the implementation platform, and testing institutions conduct testing and supervision.” The parties involved jointly explored and studied the green printing self-declaration model. The Fifth Electronics Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has the strength and experience to develop self-declaration, and it has laid a solid organizational and hardware foundation for the green printing self-declaration implementation system.

To make enterprise self-declaration information on the platform more credible, the review and publication process is being standardized so that information from participating companies is authentic. In addition, strict after-the-fact oversight will remove self-declarations found to be untrue. Working with the integrity systems of government departments and industry associations, dishonest enterprise behavior will be penalized to promote industry self-discipline.

Self-declaration by enterprises has long been used in other sectors: it lets a company declare on a specific platform that it meets a certain requirement. It also requires a complete system—platform, standards, measures, and guidelines—which is currently being built. According to reports, printing companies going through self-declaration must be tested by a third-party testing platform to confirm that the materials and processes used meet green printing standards or relevant legal requirements. They must also promise that all information is true and valid and open to inspection by competent authorities at any time. Companies can voluntarily apply to file their self-declarations on the platform, which is expected to greatly speed up and strengthen green printing promotion nationwide.

The green printing self-declaration platform has now been initially completed; in July this year, the first batch of pilot enterprises will go online to begin self-declarations.

Guided by the Transport Department and the Science and Technology Department of the Administration, the National Printing Standardization Technical Committee has fully launched the formulation of the “Green Printing Series of Industry Standards.” In March 2014, the Printing Standardization Technical Committee held the founding meeting of the standard drafting group in Beijing. The first draft of the green printing series of industry standards has been completed and is expected to be released in the second half of this year.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361780.html