Major Revision to Luminaire CCC Certification! Which Category—A, B, C, or D—Will Your Company Fall Into?
On September 23, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA) issued Announcement No. 22 of 2026, revising and releasing the "Implementation Rules for Compulsory Product Certification—Luminaires (Trial)" (CNCA-C10-01:2026) and the "Implementation Rules for Compulsory Product Certification—Ballasts (Trial)" (CNCA-C10-02:2026). The announcement specifies that from the date of release until December 31, 2026, certification bodies may conduct CCC certification according to either the old or the new version of the rules, depending on the applicant's preference; starting from January 1, 2027, the new version of the rules must be implemented. Valid certificates already issued may continue to be used, and the transition will be carried out through natural means such as product changes and certificate renewal upon expiration.
I. Not a "New Standard," but "New Rules"
National or industry standards for products set forth requirements for the safety performance of luminaires, whereas certification implementation rules specify how certification bodies conduct testing, how factories manage their operations, and how certificates are issued. The purpose of the former is to raise the technical level, while the purpose of the latter is to standardize operational processes. The technical threshold was updated long ago; what truly needs improvement now is the procedural threshold.
The content of the new rules is very extensive, totaling twenty chapters, with annexes covering provisions on the grouping and sampling of certification units, requirements for periodic verification of key components and raw materials, and so on, providing detailed stipulations for every stage of the entire certification application process.
II. Several "Rule Details" Worth Noting
Some parts of the new rules have been revised, which will affect enterprises' day-to-day compliance work.
First, classified management of production enterprises has been written into the main text of the rules. The new rules state that certification bodies shall classify production enterprises into four categories: A, B, C, and D, with classification criteria including the results of factory inspections, the results of national and local quality supervision spot checks, enterprises' credit status, and consumer complaints and reports, among others. For Category A enterprises, the post-certification supervision frequency is once every two years; for Category D enterprises, it is three times a year, and follow-up inspections are conducted "without prior notice." This means that an enterprise's "historical compliance record" will directly determine the intensity of its supervision.
Second, product consistency self-inspection has been institutionalized. The rules require manufacturers to conduct two rounds of product consistency self-inspections each year for all valid CCC certificate numbers, and to issue self-inspection reports signed and approved by the person responsible for certification quality. If problems are found during the self-inspection, corresponding corrective measures must be taken and the certification body must be notified immediately. This shifts part of the responsibility for maintaining post-certification consistency to enterprises' internal management.
Third, large luminaires have been given a dedicated certification channel. For the first time, the new rules establish Certification Mode 2 for "large luminaires" (design appraisal + partial type testing + initial factory inspection + post-certification supervision), accompanied by dedicated requirements for the review and verification of design appraisal documentation. Large luminaires are defined as integrated lighting and decorative luminaires weighing more than 100 kg, or exceeding specific size thresholds and installed in places where people gather. This adjustment responds to the practical dilemma that large custom luminaires "cannot be submitted for testing as a whole unit."
III. What It Actually Means for Lighting Enterprises
Judging from the current regulatory environment facing the lighting industry, such changes are already very clear.
Since 2026, CCC certification supervision has been continuously strengthened. In a quality inspection exposed by CCTV in mid-September, several lighting enterprises in Zhongshan were found to have problems such as "three-no" products, fraudulent use of "borrowed certificates," and continued production after certificate revocation. In the 2025 certification effectiveness spot checks previously notified by the State Administration for Market Regulation, 764 certificates were revoked out of 2,483 batches inspected, of which 79 were in the luminaire category.
After the new policy is implemented, the approach of "accountability after the fact" will shift to "prevention beforehand"—that is, measures such as the classified management system for production enterprises, the consistency self-inspection system, and differentiated post-certification inspection frequencies are all intended to ensure that enterprises with a high degree of compliance are less affected, while those with a low degree of compliance have nowhere to hide.
For lighting enterprises, the transition period lasts until December 31, 2026. During this period, it is not simply a matter of waiting to renew certificates, but rather of re-examining their own factories' quality assurance capabilities, key raw material change control procedures, and product conformity self-inspection in accordance with the new standards. In particular, enterprises that have previously been subject to regulatory spot checks will, under Category D classification, face high-frequency unannounced inspections that will become a normalized compliance pressure.
IV. Conclusion
A revision to the implementation rules for CCC certification often attracts less attention in the daily discourse of the lighting industry than the launch of a new product. But as the regulatory "procedural threshold" is raised, compliance capability itself is becoming a competitive factor. For enterprises that have already built a solid foundation in raw material procurement, production consistency, and quality systems, stricter rules are not necessarily a burden—what they weed out are those competitors that gain cost advantages by "passing the sample test while cutting corners in mass production." With three months left in the transition period, time is not exactly ample, but the direction is already clear.
