New CQC Implementation Rules for Automotive Seats and Headrests

2. February 2023

As part of the new implementation rules published by the CQC (China Quality Certification Centre) on December 30, 2022, new implementation rules for CQC certification of automotive seats and headrests have also been announced. The new implementation rules CQC16-491261-2022 replace the old version CQC16-491261-2018 and came into effect on January 1, 2023. The CQC certification is relevant for automotive seats and headrests to be imported and used in China.

Changes for automotive seats and headrests include:

• Specifications and quantity requirements for test samples now explicitly mention the associated vehicle body-in-white, which is required to perform dynamic product testing as a rack for the seats under test

• GB Standards are now listed with the specific year version number; i.e. “GB8410” is now “GB8410-2006”, “GB15083” is now “GB15083-2019”, etc.

• Audits may be conducted in the form of a remote audit under certain conditions; however, there are also certain restrictions, e.g., a factory may not conduct 2 remote audits in consecutive years.

• The issuance of an e-certificate is made possible. However, this does not replace the original certificate.

• In case of a plant relocation or opening of a new site of an already certified manufacturer within the same group of companies, the plant may be allowed to receive the CQC certificate in advance after passing product tests, before the plant audit is performed. The factory audit must then take place within 3 months of the certificate being issued. The CQC decides for each case individually whether this possibility may be used. 

• The CQC marking has been removed from the implementation rules. The CCC marking is still relevant for this product group, as seats and headrests are still subject to the mandatory requirement CCC Self-Declaration

For more information on how CCC certification, the CCC Self-Declaration and voluntary CCAP or CQC certification may affect your company, or for more information about CCC certification in general, please visit our News Section where you will find current updates twice a week.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further details and consultation. You can contact us via e-mail, Chat, or call us (UK: +44 2071931135, Europe: +49 69 2713769150, US: +1 773 654-2673).

You can also check out our free CCC-Brochure, which can be downloaded as a PDF file. The brochure also contains information on the CCC Self-Declaration and the voluntary CQC- and CCAP-Certification).