How to brief a Chinese factory on destination tests
Ask your destination importer or competent product adviser to supply a written requirements schedule. Attach it to the factory specification and laboratory brief, naming standards, editions, covered models, report access and approval stages. Coordinate the factory handover through Cambridge China Bridge.
Get the destination brief from the right person
For goods travelling from China to your own port, ask your destination importer or competent product adviser to prepare the test requirements. Give them the intended use, users, materials, components, model variants and sales destination. Confirm destination import rules with your own customs broker, and ask a product specialist to resolve testing questions.
Request a dated schedule with a named author and approver. Mark unresolved requirements as open rather than asking the factory to guess. Agree who answers technical questions and who approves the completed evidence. Our guide to appointing a product compliance consultant explains how to define that appointment.
Turn the advice into a requirements schedule
Ask the adviser to complete the fields below for each proposed test or evidence item. Separate destination requirements identified by the adviser from your own performance checks and customer requests. Record the reason for each item so the factory and laboratory can raise questions against a specific instruction.
Avoid phrases such as “latest standard” or “international certificate”. Request exact references and editions, including amendments and applicable clauses. Ask the adviser to confirm the assessment basis before testing is commissioned. Leave any unconfirmed field visibly open.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Destination and product | Sales destination, intended use, buyer model and specification revision |
| Requirement basis | Adviser-supplied reference and whether the item is a destination, customer or buyer requirement |
| Test instruction | Standard reference, edition, amendments, clauses, method and acceptance criteria |
| Model coverage | Factory model aliases, variants, tested configuration and proposed sample selection |
| Laboratory and evidence | Proposed laboratory, adviser confirmation of suitability, complete reports and supporting files |
| Control and approval | Evidence holder, sharing permissions, reviewer, approval stage and unresolved items |
Attach the schedule to the factory specification
Give the schedule a document reference and revision, then list it in the specification and purchase order. Ask the factory to acknowledge that revision and return a deviations list before you accept its quotation. Request separate testing scope and identify exclusions. Use the product specification guide for the wider specification structure.
Send the same approved pack to the laboratory. Ask it to confirm the proposed tests, sample selection and model coverage before samples are sent. Record factory and buyer model names together. Route proposed substitutions or alternative editions back to the adviser for written approval rather than accepting them through an informal factory message.
Agree who controls and receives the evidence
Before commissioning work, agree who instructs the laboratory, who is named as applicant, who holds the reports and what ownership or permission to use them is being agreed. Specify your importer’s access to complete reports, amendments, photographs and supporting construction records, including permission to verify them directly with the laboratory.
Agree document language, file format, recipients and a handover if you change supplier or sourcing company. Ask the laboratory and report holder to confirm sharing arrangements before payment. Use our report-to-order coverage guide to review the resulting evidence and our testing and certification service to coordinate the factory testing brief.
Set written approval points before production
Separate approval of the testing plan from approval of test results. Before bulk production, ask the named reviewer to assess the agreed sample evidence against the schedule and record approval or outstanding actions. If some evidence can only come from production goods, identify it in advance and agree whether production may proceed and what blocks dispatch.
Require written review of changes to the destination, model, materials, components or test method. Record whether the adviser requests revised evidence or retesting, then update the approved pack. Cambridge China Bridge’s own staff in China can gather factory records and coordinate the handover through our product development service. Keep the destination importer’s evidence approval explicit.
Frequently asked questions
Who should tell the factory which tests I need?
Ask your destination importer or competent product adviser to issue the testing schedule. Confirm destination import rules with your own customs broker, then send the approved schedule to the factory and laboratory.
Can I use the factory’s existing test reports?
Submit them to your named reviewer against the schedule. Ask for confirmation of model coverage, construction, standards and editions, with any evidence gaps recorded before approval.
What if the factory suggests a different standard?
Request the exact reference, edition and reason for the proposal. Send it to your adviser and laboratory for review. Keep the original instruction until a revised schedule is approved in writing.
Should testing be approved before bulk production?
Agree approval stages before ordering. Review the specified sample evidence before bulk production, and identify any production-only tests with a separate dispatch approval point.