Testing, inspection and certification (TIC) requirements and procedures in China are governed by the Regulations on Certification and Accreditation. Only TIC bodies officially registered in China can be selected for conformity assessment.

However, not all TIC bodies can be selected for all conformity assessment procedures. Each body has specific fields of specialisation and must apply to the authorities to be able to release a certain certification. In fact, most certification schemes in China can be released only by a limited number of officially accredited bodies, which usually do not include foreign-invested ones. Accredited certification bodies accept test results from different laboratories in China, which may or may not include foreign-invested ones. For instance, CCC certification can only be released by 35 officially recognised certification bodies – none of them is foreign-invested; these certification bodies might accept test results from 243 officially recognised laboratories, 6 of which are foreign-invested.

So, is it possible to do testing and inspection in TIC bodies established in Europe? It depends. If the specific certification scheme requires testing and inspection to be conducted in specifically designated bodies, then no; otherwise, yes. Some TIC bodies may have presence both in Europe and in China; there are also cases of Chinese laboratories that, out of their own initiative, have established partnerships with European laboratories and mutually recognise test results.