On December 29, 2022, GB 31241-2022 “Lithium ion cells and batteries used in portable electronic equipment —— Safety technical specifications” was released, which will replace the version GB 31241-2014. The standard is scheduled for mandatory implementation on January 1, 2024.

GB 31241 is the first Chinese mandatory standards for lithium-ion batteries. It has attracted a lot of attention from the industry since its release and has a wide range of applications. Lithium-ion batteries that apply to standard GB 31241 have been using CQC voluntary certification, but in 2022 it has been confirmed that they will be converted to CCC mandatory certification. So the release of new version of GB 31241-2022 foreshadows the upcoming release of CCC certification rules. Based on this, the following are two recommendations on the current battery certification for portable electronic products:

For products that have obtained a CQC certificate, MCM recommends that

• For the time being, it is not recommended to update the CQC certificate to the latest version. As the implementation rules and requirements for CCC certification will be released soon, if you go to update the CQC certificate, you will still need to do a new update when the CCC certification rules are released. 
• In addition, for the already existing certificate, before the issue of CCC certification rules, it is recommended to continue to update and maintain the validity of the certificate, and cancel them after obtaining the 3C certificate.

For new products that do not yet have a CQC certificate, MCM recommends that

• It is ok to continue to apply for CQC certification, and if there is a new test standard, you can choose the new standard for testing
• If you do not want to apply for CQC certificate for your new product and want to wait for the implementation of CCC to apply for CCC certificate, you can choose to certify along with the host certification.