Since September, market regulation authorities in many regions have been issuing a flurry of notices regarding charging station compliance. In Luoding, Guangdong; Jiangsu Changzhou; Shandong… the wording of the documents has shifted from “encouraging certification” to “products may not be manufactured, sold, imported, or used without certification,” with fines explicitly set at between 50,000 and 200,000 yuan.
Many companies are still asking: CCC What exactly is the relationship between certification and mandatory verification? How many certificates do I need to obtain? When will inspections begin?
This article breaks down the latest enforcement guidelines from September to help you get a clear understanding all at once.
01 Two Fronts, Tightening Simultaneously
In September, China’s charging station regulation showed a trend of “tightening on both fronts simultaneously.”
On the national level, charging and battery-swapping facilities were incorporated into industrial planning, and metrology standards were extended to the upstream stage of type evaluation. On 25 September, the National Technical Committee for Electromagnetic Measurement (MTC 18) issued a public call for comments on three national metrological technical specifications, including the Outline for Type Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Power Supply Equipment — General Requirements. This is the upstream document that will determine the type evaluation test items and acceptance criteria for charging piles over the coming years.
On the other end, at the grassroots implementation level, CCC certification and mandatory verification have become enforceable regulatory actions. A notice issued by Luoding City, Guangdong Province, on September 9 systematically outlined the dual-track compliance requirements of “mandatory verification + CCC certification”:
- AC and DC charging stations used for commercial transactions must undergo mandatory verification at no cost; charging stations for personal use within households or organizations are exempt;
- Existing charging stations must be registered and undergo verification; new charging stations must complete their initial verification before being put into operation, with a verification cycle generally set at three years;
- Regarding CCC, effective August 1, 2026, electric vehicle charging equipment that has not obtained certification and bears the certification mark may not be manufactured, sold, imported, or used in business operations;
- Penalty Provisions: Generally, fines range from 50,000 to 200,000 yuan; for goods valued at less than 10,000 yuan, the fine shall not exceed twice the value of the goods.
02 What Is the Difference Between CCC Certification and Mandatory Verification?
Many companies confuse these two matters, but they are actually two separate compliance requirements.
CCC mandatory certification addresses the safety of the product itself. According to Announcement No. 50 of 2024 issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, electric vehicle power supply equipment will be subject to mandatory CCC certification effective August 1, 2026, and must comply with both GB 39752-2024 “Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicle Power Supply Equipment” and GB 44263-2024 “Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicle Conductive Charging Systems.” It ensures “product safety.”
Mandatory verification (metrology) focuses on the accuracy of commercial settlements. Charging stations used for commercial settlements have been included in the mandatory verification catalog effective January 1, 2023, with a general verification cycle of three years. It ensures “accurate calculation of electricity charges.”
For enterprises, these two tracks correspond to three independently billable services: CCC type testing and factory inspection, metrological verification/calibration, and verification of electricity metering data on the operational platform. Failing to complete any one of these may result in issues during regulatory inspections.
03 An Easily Overlooked Upstream Signal
On September 15, the Jiangsu provincial local metrology technical regulation JJG (Su) 316-2026, “Verification Regulations for Remote On-Site Inspection Calibrators of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations,” officially took effect. It was drafted under the leadership of the Changzhou Institute of Inspection, Testing, Standards, and Certification.
The uniqueness of this regulation lies in the fact that it treats the “EV charging station calibrator” itself as the object of verification, standardizing its measurement traceability and verification methods.
In the past, the industry focused on whether “the charging station is accurate”; now, the priority is to ensure that “the instrument used to test the charging station is accurate”— —this is a typical step in moving the metrological chain up a level. For testing institutions, this represents a new category of verification services; for manufacturers, it means that their in-house charging station testing equipment must also be incorporated into their own traceability management systems.
04 What Companies Should Do Now
Based on the latest developments in September, here is one action recommendation for each of the three types of entities:
EV charger Manufacturers: Immediately verify whether products have completed CCC certification (compliance with both GB 39752-2024 and GB 44263-2024). For uncertified products, arrange type testing as soon as possible to avoid non-compliance upon shipment. At the same time, monitor the draft MTC18 type evaluation outline and prepare in advance by aligning with future test requirements.
Charging operators: Compile an inventory of existing charging stations, distinguishing between those “used for commercial transactions” and those “for internal use.” Stations used for commercial transactions must complete filing, initial verification, and periodic verification. New charging stations must complete initial verification before being put into operation; otherwise, they may not be used for commercial charging.
Export-oriented enterprises: Domestic compliance is merely the foundation. The cases of Chinese products reported consecutively by the UK’s OPSS in September indicate that compliance risks on the export side are also rising. We will break this down in detail in our next post.
When it comes to compliance, a reactive approach is always more costly than proactive planning. The flurry of regulatory announcements in September is not the end—it marks the beginning of an intensive enforcement cycle.
In our next post, we’ll focus on: The UK’s OPSS reported two incidents involving Chinese-brand charging stations within a single month—what exactly did the exporting enterprises stumble into?