Accreditation and Administration Guidelines of Recognized Certification Bodies for Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (Feb.01,2001)

(Unofficial Translation)

Chapter 1　General

Article 1

The Guidelines are stipulated for accreditation of certification bodies as specified in Article 8 of "Compliance Approval and Technical Regulations of Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (TTE)" (hereinafter as the Regulations).

Article 2

The certification bodies mentioned herein refer to the entities that are recognized and authorized by the Directorate General of Telecommunications, Ministry of Transportation and Communications (hereinafter as DGT) to conduct certification of telecommunications terminal equipment.

Chapter 2　Recognition procedure

Article 3

The one (hereinafter as applicant) who applies for recognition as a certification body should apply to DGT with respect to the scopes and items of certification for TTE (refer to AttachmentⅠ).

The recognized certification bodies (hereinafter RCB) should charge the approval fee on behalf of DGT, and the approval fee should be charged in accordance with the fee schedule stipulated by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC). In return for the RCB which conduct the certification activities, the DGT should pay fee to RCB according to the negotiation agreed by both sides.

Article 4

Applicant in compliance with all the following conditions may be recognized and empowered by the DGT as certification body:

1. Legally domestic entity or organization.
2. Not be an importer, designer, manufacturer, supplier of telecommunications terminal equipment nor being engaged in these activities.
3. Equipped with testing laboratories accredited by the Chinese National Laboratory Accreditation or the certification systems which pursuant to international standards.
4. Designating at least one professional and full-time personnel for each accreditation scope subject to certification.

Article 5

The personnel involved in the certification process mentioned in the fourth item of Article 4 should be independent from those conduct the testing specified in the third paragraph of Article 8 in the Regulations.

The certification personnel mentioned in the fourth item of the preceding article is requested to graduate from the domestic or foreign university/college with bachelor degrees (or above) and majored in telecommunications engineering, electronic engineering, control engineering, information engineering, information processing, information technology, electrical engineering or other relevant majors recognized by the Ministry of Education. Moreover, the certification personnel should have the technical expertise and knowledge in telecommunications, as well as being familiar with the DGT rules, regulations and technical specifications.

Article 6

To apply for recognition, the applicant should submit application form (refer to Annex) together with the following documents to the DGT. The application procedure is mentioned in Attachment II.

1. A copy of identification specified in the first item of Article 4.
2. A copy of certificate which identifies the testing laboratory subordinate to the certification body is recognized as specified in the third item of Article 4.
3. Basic information of certification personnel that are compliant with Article 5 in certification sector of certification body.
4. The organization schema and function description tables regarding to certification sector of certification body.
5. The quality manual regarding to certification sector of certification body.
6. The list of quality documents regarding to certification sector of certification body.
7. The TTE conformity assessment procedure.
8. Other information specified by the DGT.

Article 7

If the submitted documents are incomplete, the applicants should be requested to supplement the deficiencies within 2 months on receipt of the DGT's notification. For those applicants fail to respond the notification or provide adequate information within the prescribed time frame, the application for recognition shall be turned down.

For application with complete and adequate documents, the DGT should group an assessment team to conduct on-site assessment.

Article 8

The assessment team should conduct on-site assessment in accordance with the following standard, regulations and technical specifications; furthermore, a follow-on assessment report should be addressed.

1. The equipment certification system should meet the requirements and conditions of ISO/IEC Guide 65 or CNS 13250.
2. The technical expertise of certification should comply with the relevant regulations and technical specifications with respect to the certification scopes and items.
3. Other regulations specified by the DGT.

Article 9

After on-site assessment, those do not comply with the preceding Article should be notified by the DGT to make improvement and address proposal for improvement within prescribed time frame. For those fail to complete the improvement and address proposal for improvement, the application of recognition should be turned down.

The time frame for improvement mentioned in the preceding paragraph should not exceed 6 months.

Article 10

The applicants should not conduct certification until it has received a certificate of recognition granted by the DGT (refer to Attachment Ⅲ) and signed a contract subject to certification of telecommunications terminal equipment (hereinafter as contract) with the DGT.

Chapter 3　 Administration after recognition

Article 11

A RCB should carry out compliance approval in accordance with the Telecommunications Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Regulations and the Guidelines；unless with proper reasons, a RCB should provide fair and equitable treatment.

A RCB shall accept MRA CABs test reports as specified in Article 23 of the Regulations.

Article 12

The responsibilities of a RCB are listed as follows:

1. Pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 8 and the first paragraph of Article 16 of the Regulations, a RCB should issue the certificate of approval and store all applications and list of certified product in electronic database.
2. Pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 8 of the Regulations, after issuing the certificate of approval, a RCB should submit copies of each application and grant to the DGT for reference.
3. Pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 9 of the Regulations, a RCB may request the applicants of compliance approval to submit equipment sample if necessary.
4. Pursuant to Article 13 of the Regulations, a RCB should notify the applicants of compliance approval to supplement the incompleteness and inadequacy of the application package.
5. Pursuant to Article 14 of the Regulations, a RCB should notify the applicants of compliance approval to supplement the deficiencies and apply for secondary examination.
6. Pursuant to Article 13 and 14 of the Regulations, a RCB could turn down the application.
7. Pursuant to Article 15 of the Regulations, a RCB should return the equipment sample to the applicants and retain the copies of relevant identification and technical documents for reference.
8. Pursuant to Article 18 of the Regulations, if a certificate of approval is re-issued or replaced, the RCB should submit the renewal or replaced ones to DGT for reference at once.
9. Pursuant to Article 19 of the Regulations or under instructions/request by the DGT, a RCB should perform post-market surveillance activities toward the certified TTE in the market which is granted by the RCB itself. Results of surveillance should be reported to DGT for reference.,
10. Pursuant to the first and second paragraphs of Article 20 of the Regulations, a RCB may revoke or rescind the certificate of approval and submit the relevant information of such cases to DGT for reference.

For the tasks stipulated in the preceding paragraph, a RCB should certify equipment under the name of RCB and in the form of writing except for those are not suitable for written form.

Article 13

A RCB can't refuse a random audit conducted by the DGT.

Article 14

The contract is limited no more than 5 years. Once the contract is due/terminated, the RCB should submit all technical data of the application package and the relevant approval information to DGT.

Once the contract is due and the DGT has nothing with the RCB legally, the RCB should not accept any more application for compliance approval For those applications not yet been finished, the RCB has the responsibilities to finish them.

Within 6 months before the contract is due, the RCB should re-submit an application to the DGT for recognition.

Article 15

A RCB and its certification personnel should not provide the applicant with consulting services or supplement to the equipment applied for approval which might compromise the certification procedure and decision.

Article 16

Once there is any change of the items specified in the certificate of recognition, the RCB should submit the original certificate to DGT for replacement within 15 days from the date of change.

If a RCB would like to add other certification scope, it should submit an application on the subject to the additional scope for recognition. After recognized by the DGT, the RCB should be notified to return the original certificate of recognition and replace a new one. The expiry of the replaced certificate is the same as the original one.

When the certification personnel quit, which leads to vacant position and interfere with the certification, the DGT should command the RCB to intermit the certification with respect to relevant scope. Once the vacancy is filled with a qualified personnel, the RCB should submit the basic information of the new personnel to the DGT for the permission to resume the certification.

Once the testing laboratory subordinate to the RCB is notified by its accreditation body to intermit to perform testing, the RCB should report to the DGT within 7 days from the date of the notification. The DGT should command the RCB to intermit to perform the certification with respect to relevant scope.

Article 17

With one of the following conditions, the DGT may terminate the contract and command the RCB to return the certificate of recognition issued by the DGT.

1. The approval of certificate issued by the RCB is found counterfeit.
2. Violate Article 4 of the Guidelines after signing the contract.
3. Violate Article 8 of the Guidelines.
4. Violate Article 11 of the Guidelines.
5. Exceed or default to perform the scope of responsibility specified in Article 12.
6. Violate Article 13 of the Guidelines.
7. Violate Article 15 of the Guidelines.
8. Violate Article 16 of the Guidelines.

For a RCB fails to return the certificate of recognition pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the DGT should make a notice to rescind the certificate.

Article 18

For the RCBs whose contracts have been terminated pursuant to the preceding article are not allowed to re-submit application for recognition within one year from the date of termination.

Article 19

The Guidelines should be effective as of the date of announcement.

Attachment I : Scope of Certification for Telecommunications Terminal Equipment

Attachment II : The Recognition Procedure of Certification Body for Telecommunication Terminal Equipment

Attachment III : Directorate General of Telecommunications, MOTC Certificate of Recognition for Certification Body

Annex : Application Form for Recognition of Certification body for TTE