The special campaign "Joint Inspection, Joint Enforcement, and Joint Governance" for the Quality and Safety of Wires and Cables is underway.

In recent years, the national market regulation system has continuously carried out targeted inspections of wire and cable manufacturers, leading to increasingly orderly industry practices and steadily improving quality standards. However, challenges remain, including prominent issues in the distribution sector—such as substandard products—and recurring problems like non-compliance with critical standards (e.g., conductor resistance) and frequent instances of counterfeit or downgraded cables produced through shoddy manufacturing practices. To further promote the sustained and healthy development of the wire and cable industry while ensuring safe and secure production and daily life for the public, the State Administration for Market Regulation recently announced a special "Joint Inspection, Joint Enforcement, and Joint Governance" campaign focused on key regions, product categories, and specific quality concerns within the wire and cable sector. This initiative, referred to as the "Special Action," aims to tackle these pressing quality issues head-on.

The State Administration for Market Regulation, in its issued notice, announced that the Administration will organize all provincial-level market regulation departments and relevant product quality inspection agencies nationwide to conduct comprehensive, coverage-based supervision and spot checks on certified wire and cable manufacturers across the country. Specifically, the supervision and spot checks organized directly by the Administration will involve randomly selecting enterprises for inspection, ensuring that all certified product units of each inspected company are covered. Meanwhile, the supervision and spot checks carried out by provincial market regulation departments will focus on key product categories such as polyvinyl chloride-insulated wires and cables, rubber-insulated wires and cables, plastic-insulated control cables, low- and medium-voltage power cables, and overhead insulated cables. These inspections will also emphasize critical quality indicators, including insulation and sheath thickness, conductor resistance, tensile strength and elongation at break of insulation and sheathing materials, thermal elongation, thermal weight loss, ozone resistance, and combustion performance.

This special enforcement action will involve surprise inspections of key areas such as production hubs and specialized markets. The notice instructs market regulatory authorities at all levels to focus particularly on manufacturing enterprises identified during supervision and inspection, as well as building materials markets and specialized markets located in urban-rural fringe areas and rural regions. Authorities are directed to deploy regulatory inspectors, technical experts, and other personnel to conduct comprehensive checks—using methods like unannounced inspections, on-site testing, and rapid screening—to thoroughly investigate whether counterfeit or substandard wire and cable products are being sold illegally. Meanwhile, the General Administration will assemble a team of expert consultants, working closely with law enforcement officers from relevant provincial market regulators, to carry out impromptu inspections of critical production facilities and high-priority markets in targeted regions.

This targeted campaign focuses on all types of quality-related violations. In particular, the production and sale of substandard, counterfeit wire and cable products—those that cut corners or use inferior materials—will be prioritized for investigation and enforcement. The notice instructs market supervision and law enforcement agencies at all levels to swiftly gather solid evidence on any leads involving illegal activities related to wire and cable product quality, thoroughly probing every stage of production and distribution involved, as well as all implicated products. Violations—including cases where non-standard or low-standard products are falsely marketed as meeting national or industry standards, or where substandard items are passed off as compliant—are to be addressed with strict urgency. Meanwhile, authorities will trace the exact origins and distribution channels of the suspect products, stepping up cross-regional collaboration and joint investigations to decisively dismantle "black dens" involved in manufacturing and selling fake, shoddy, and counterfeit wire and cable products.

We will also crack down firmly on illegal activities involving unlicensed and unregistered operations. The notice mandates strict and severe enforcement against product quality violations identified during inspections, such as manufacturers selling or distributing wires and cables lacking manufacturer names, addresses, production licenses, or mandatory certification marks. Additionally, it emphasizes that production enterprises found operating outside the legal requirements and conditions stipulated by their production licenses or mandatory certification schemes will face rigorous penalties under laws like the "Product Quality Law," the "Regulations on the Administration of Industrial Product Production Licenses," and the "Certification and Accreditation Regulations."

Severely crack down on activities that jeopardize production and consumer safety. By establishing a robust information-sharing mechanism among key industry stakeholders—including departments like Industry and Information Technology, Housing and Urban-Rural Development, as well as major players such as State Grid, Southern Power Grid, and power companies—authorities can promptly identify potential violations, swiftly investigate and penalize relevant producers and operators, and promptly communicate information about substandard products. This ensures that end-users in critical industries thoroughly inspect and address the usage of these products, effectively preventing unsafe conditions from compromising production or public safety. Additionally, consumer complaints regarding product quality issues and any suspected illegal activities will be promptly investigated and addressed.

In addition to severely cracking down on all types of quality-related violations, the notice also calls for comprehensively advancing integrated governance measures. This includes promoting the establishment of a classified regulatory system for wire and cable manufacturers, encouraging companies to adopt item coding technology to build robust quality traceability systems, and empowering the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) to organize local market oversight authorities. These authorities will assess manufacturers based on their comprehensive fulfillment of product quality responsibilities, while also considering enterprise credit risk classification results, to categorize production facilities into risk levels and implement tailored regulatory approaches. Furthermore, industry associations are being urged to develop "Group Standards for Enterprise Quality Credit Evaluation," while third-party organizations are encouraged to conduct independent assessments of industry-wide quality and safety performance, helping to stabilize market order. To enhance accountability, the SAMR will publicly disclose supervision and spot-check outcomes via the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, effectively raising the costs of quality violations and narrowing the operational space for non-compliant businesses. Given the unique characteristics of wire and cable products, industry associations are advised to explore innovative IT solutions such as item coding and QR codes, aiming to strengthen the development of quality traceability systems. This initiative seeks to create a centralized database that integrates information across the entire product lifecycle—spanning production, acceptance, supervision, testing, and usage—and fosters data sharing among stakeholders. Ultimately, this will pave the way for smarter, more collaborative forms of regulation, ensuring the long-term enforcement of a robust quality accountability framework. Finally, industry and enterprises are encouraged to establish group and corporate standards that exceed national and industry benchmarks, with rigorous monitoring of compliance. Additionally, recommendations will be made to refine existing standards related to the safe and reliable selection of wire and cable products. Industry associations are also tasked with developing comprehensive brand-building frameworks, actively guiding companies in implementing effective branding strategies. By leveraging technological advancements, businesses can elevate product quality, boost innovation, and ultimately position themselves as leaders in the industry—bolstering both their reputation and the competitiveness of their offerings.

The notice also specifically highlights that, throughout this targeted campaign, key regions and critical issues will be placed under "listed supervision and accountability." The General Administration has identified priority areas—such as Foshan in Guangdong, Gongyi in Henan, Liaocheng in Shandong, and Yangzhou in Jiangsu—where problems uncovered during spot checks and inspections have been particularly concentrated, to implement this "listed" oversight mechanism. These regions will see a layered approach to enforcing joint investigation, crackdown, and governance responsibilities. Meanwhile, major industrial clusters focused on wire and cable production—like Yixing City in Jiangsu Province, Ningjin County in Hebei Province, and Wuwei City in Anhui Province—will receive specialized guidance and support, helping address regional quality challenges and driving overall improvements in product standards. For regions demonstrating insufficient attention or ineffective remediation efforts, authorities will take measures such as conducting interviews and issuing public notifications to ensure local regulatory responsibilities are firmly upheld. Additionally, any suspected criminal activities uncovered during enforcement will be promptly referred to judicial authorities, while leads involving misconduct or violations by state officials will be swiftly passed on to disciplinary inspection and supervision bodies as required.