The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SARM) has now implemented mandatory certification requirement for Lithium-ion batteries, Battery Packs, Mobile Power supplies and Power adaptors/charges for telecommunication terminal products.

Designated certification bodies can from 1 August this year accept applications based on the Compulsory Product Certification Implementation Rules for Information Technology Equipment 

Designated certification bodies can from 1 August this year accept applications based on the and associated annex and carry out certification work according to the applicable standards listed in the “Implementation Rules for Product Certification of IT-equipment”.

For these newly included products the list of designated certification bodies and laboratories will soon be announced separately.

Products of this kind which have not obtained CCC certification and are not marked accordingly within 1 August 2024 shall not leave the production site, be sold, imported or used in other business activities.

The definition and scope description of the concerned products are detailed in the annex and includes the following product types (and given codes): Power supplies (0807 and 0907), Portable Power Supplies (0914), Lithium-ion cells and battery packs(0915).

Regarding lithium-ion batteries and battery packs used in electronic and electrical products, at this stage, CCC certification is required for those used in portable electronic products. Regarding lithium-ion batteries and battery packs used in other types of electronic and electrical products, CCC certification will be required in due course, i.e. when the conditions are published.

The relevant technical standard now is GB31241-2022 "Safety Technical Specifications for Lithium-ion Batteries and Battery Packs for Portable Electronic Products". This standard, which was published on 29 December last year, replaced the former 2014-version and will be effective from 1 January 2024.

The lithium-ion cells or batteries used in the following portable electronic equipment product categories fall into the GB31241-2022 scope: portable office products, portable telecommunication products, portable audio/video products and other portable products like Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, electric books, power banks, etc.

This standard focuses on the basic safety requirements to protect people from personal injury, property damage and other damage. Performance and functional characteristics of portable electronic equipment containing these cells/batteries are not covered.

Leakage, fire, explosion, and overheating hazards were considered and taken as assessment criteria for safety requirements. Tests methods for intended use, reasonably foreseeable misuse and fault conditions were also given in this standard as below:

• Electrical safety tests for cell
• Environmental safety tests for cell
• Environmental safety tests for battery
• Electrical safety tests for battery
• Safety requirements of battery protective circuits
• Safety requirements of system protective circuits
• Consistency requirements

Through this standard, so that designers can understand the basic principles for designing cells and batteries, the following criteria are to be considered:

• Select materials with high safety performance, and try to avoid using materials that are prone to thermal runaway
• Involve protective devices to reduce or eliminate the possibility of danger
• Take measures to identify and explain potential hazards