[Export Service] Knowledge Points Must Be Get for Home Appliance Export Enterprises

In recent years, foreign technology trade measures emerge in an endless stream, the current new crown epidemic in the global spread of the grim situation, China's home appliance exports suffered an unprecedented impact.

In order to support enterprises to resume work and production, the Customs will give full play to its technical information advantages and collect the latest foreign regulations and standards in a timely manner to help Chinese manufacturing smoothly enter the international market.

Household appliances, referred to as home appliances.It refers to the appliances that are driven by electric energy (or mechanized actions). It is mainly used for various electrical and electronic appliances in households and similar places. It can help perform household chores, such as cooking, food preservation or cleaning, so it is also called civil electrical appliances, household appliances. Household appliances have become a necessity of modern family life.

According to the intergovernmental inspection agreement signed between my country and relevant countries, pre-shipment inspection is required for goods exported to Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, and Yemen.

The classification method of household appliances has not been unified globally. At present, it is more common to classify products according to their functions and uses, which are roughly divided into 8 categories:

① Cold appliances, including household refrigerators, freezers, cold drink machines, etc.

Air conditioners, including room air conditioners, electric fans, ventilation fans, cold and hot air devices, air dehumidifiers, etc.

③ Clean electrical appliances, including washing machines, dryers, steam cleaners, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, floor waxing machines, etc.

④ Kitchen appliances, including electric stove, microwave oven, induction cooker, electric stove, electric oven, electric cooker, dishwasher, water dispenser, electric kettle, toaster, sandwich oven, coffee machine, egg beater, electric water heater, food processor, etc.

⑤ Electric heating appliances, including electric blankets, electric quilts, water blankets, electric clothes and indoor heaters.

The cosmetic health appliances, including electric shaver, hair dryer, hair curling, ultrasonic facial cleanser, electric massager.

⑦ Audio and video appliances, including micro projectors, televisions, radios, tape recorders, video recorders, cameras, combined audio, etc.

⑧ Other electrical appliances, such as pyrotechnic alarms, electric bells, etc.

According to statistics, China's total exports of household appliances in 2019 406.358 billion yuan, an increase of 1.4 percent year-on-year. Among them, the top three exports were televisions, air conditioners and electric heating household appliances, with exports of 88.406 billion yuan, 73.645 billion yuan and 552.89 yuan (an increase of 6.0 percent over the same period last year).

From the export product category. In 2019, the top five products for export were electric fans, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, food mixers and indoor heaters. Except for indoor heaters, which were flat year-on-year compared with last year, exports of the other four products all rose, with electric fans up 16.2 percent, food mixers up 9.99 percent, vacuum cleaners up 6.0 percent and microwave ovens up 4.1 percent. It shows that with the continuous improvement of global living standards, people have a strong demand for small household appliances used in daily life.

In terms of export and regional distribution. In 2019, the top five countries or regions in export are the United States, the European Union, Japan, the 10 ASEAN countries and Hong Kong. The top five exports together accounted for 62.4 per cent of total exports of household appliances. Although affected by the continuous fermentation of Sino-US trade frictions and the Hong Kong incident, the United States is still the largest market for China's home appliance exports. The top five EU markets are Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Italy. The exports of the 10 ASEAN countries increased by 16.0 per cent year-on-year.

In 2018 and 2019, the country's export of home appliances encountered 1549 batches of foreign returns, with a value of US $103.366 million. In the past two years, 91 batches of RAPEX notifications have been indirectly reported to the EU.

EU market access requirements

The EU market currently has 27 member states and 24 languages, and its household appliances basically use 230V 50Hz power supply. Home appliances to enter the EU must comply with the relevant directives (Directive). The product must have the CE mark. The EU mainly includes the following directives:

North American Market Access Requirements

Among the home appliances exported to the United States, battery chargers, commercial refrigerators and freezers, heating units and other residential products should meet the requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005). Primary energy-using appliances must meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEPS) requirements of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). Products such as refrigerators and freezers, dishwashers, water heaters, room air conditioners, washing machines, stoves (including boilers), pool heaters and ceiling fans are subject to the Energy Guidelines Energy Efficiency Labeling (EnergyGuide) in accordance with the National Energy Conservation Act 1978 (NECPA), the Appliance Labeling Rules, and other acts. Products such as dehumidifiers, dishwashers, coolers, household air purifiers, household water heaters, chillers and microwave ovens must meet the requirements of relevant energy efficiency standards.

Among the home appliances exported to Canada, commercial stand-alone refrigerators, large air conditioners and heat pumps, room air conditioners, digital TV adapters, electric boilers, portable air conditioners, stand-alone vertical air conditioners and heat pumps must meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEPS) requirements set out in the Energy Efficiency Regulations.

Home appliances entering Mexico need to obtain the mandatory safety certification mark NOM mark issued by the Mexican standards agency. In addition to safety, some home appliances need to post yellow energy efficiency labels in Mexico, which must comply with the Mexican Federal Metrology and Standardization Act, the Federal Public Administration Organization Act, and the mandatory national (official) NOM standard requirements for thermal efficiency and energy efficiency. Such as household and commercial water heater NOM-003-ENER-2000, household washing machine NOM-005-ENER-2010. Currently, EMC certification is not mandatory in Mexico.

Japanese market access requirements

Small household electrical appliances entering the Japanese market must meet the provisions of Japan's "Electrical Supplies Safety Law" and use the PSE logo uniformly. The "Electrical Supplies Safety Law" divides 457 kinds of electrical supplies into "specific electrical supplies" and "non-specific electrical supplies". All products that belong to the "specific electrical supplies" catalog must be authorized by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Industry of Japan. The third-party certification agency certified, and has a diamond-shaped PSE logo on the label. The products belonging to the "non-specific electrical supplies" catalogue, entering the Japanese market, must undergo self-testing and self-declaration to confirm compliance with the Japanese electrical supplies technical standards, and have a circular PSE logo on the label.

ANZ Market Access Requirements

Small household appliances entering the Australian and New Zealand markets must meet electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility requirements. In addition, electric water heaters are required to meet the requirements of the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standard Regulations (GEMS).

Market Access Requirements for Middle East Gulf States

Since July 1, 2016, seven Gulf countries (UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen) have enforced GCC(Gulf Cooperation Council, Gulf Cooperation Council) certification for technical regulations on low-voltage electrical equipment and supplies, including household appliances. Products listed in the regulatory requirements must obtain a GCC certificate issued by a recognized issuing body designated by the GSO(GCC Standards Organization) before entering the Gulf countries.

Singapore Market Access Requirements

Home appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes dryers and televisions exported to Singapore must meet the registration and minimum energy efficiency standards stipulated in Singapore's Environmental Protection and Management Act and its Environmental Protection and Management (Energy Conservation) Regulations.

South Korea market access requirements

According to the "Electrical Supplies and Industrial Products Safety Management Law" that came into effect on January 28, 2017, the South Korea implements an electrical supplies safety certification system for household appliances entering the domestic market, requiring mandatory or voluntary KC certification. For home appliances, the current input voltage (AC and DC) range of 50~1000V products require mandatory KC certification. In addition, for home appliances, as a supplement to the safety testing of similar products, electromagnetic compatibility testing is also required.

Ukrainian market conformity certification requirements

Ukraine implements conformity certification for all electronic and electrical products. Applicants can transfer certificates based on CB or LVD, EMC, EMF and RoHS test reports of the products, but the products must provide instructions and labels in Ukrainian.

Russian market access requirements

Russia stipulates that imported products must obtain compulsory certification (GOST) before they can be sold on the market. GOST-R certification is the country's standard certification. For goods exported to Russia, GOST certificate is one of the necessary documents to be submitted to the customs of the country. At present, the products requiring compulsory certification include food, household appliances, electronic products, toys, etc.

Eurasian Economic Union Market Access Requirements

Economic Union includes: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia. From March 1, 2020, the export of electronic and electrical equipment to the Eurasian Economic Union must comply with the ROHS certification of the technical regulations on the restriction of hazardous substances in electronic and electrical products.

➡It has become a stumbling block for Chinese manufacturing and exports to foreign markets.According to the survey results of the WTO/TBT-SPS National Notification Advisory Center, in 2017 alone, 30.1 per cent of China's export enterprises were affected by foreign technical trade measures, with a total direct loss of 248.12 billion yuan.

➡Product costs rise and price competitiveness declines.In order to meet the technical requirements of importing countries, as well as the market access requirements of the European Union, the United States and other markets, domestic production enterprises have to increase production inputs, product costs have risen sharply, and price advantages are no longer prominent.

➡Intellectual property disputes have caused huge losses to the export of household electrical appliances.China's export of home appliances mainly rely on cheap labor through the introduction of technology imitation, science and technology patents caused by economic disputes often occur. For example, China's DVD production enterprises are subject to patent protection restrictions, are charged high royalties, profit margins are squeezed, forced to switch, or turn to OEM processing.

➡The deterioration of the trade environment has exacerbated trade frictions.Although the export trade volume of my country's household electrical appliances is increasing year by year, and the trade surplus is increasing, at the same time, the products mainly rely on processing trade, low-price competition and quantity to win, and the technical level and environmental protection standards are still low. Many countries restrict the export of home appliances by setting up patent barriers and green barriers combined with intellectual property rights, which leads to continuous trade frictions.

✔Correct understanding of technology trade measures. Enterprises are at the forefront of technological trade measures, and must maintain a high sense of urgency, master and organize production according to the requirements of technological trade measures, and improve quality control capabilities.

✔Further improve product research and development capabilities and enhance the "internal strength" of technical trade measures ".

✔Strengthen the collection and research of information on foreign technology and trade measures, and keep abreast of the update of foreign standards and technical regulations, so as to take necessary preventive measures.

✔Strengthen the response to technical barriers in emerging markets. Because the Middle East, ASEAN, Africa and other countries lag behind Europe and the United States in the formulation of standards, they are more inclined to directly quote or refer to European and American requirements in the process of formulating regulations and standards.

✔Strengthen contact and communication with local governments and home appliance associations, keep warm, and enhance the ability to deal with barriers.