China Regulatory Research · Automotive & New Energy Vehicles

Automotive & New Energy Vehicles: documentation and language requirements in China

For household vehicles, Article 8 of SAMR Order No. 43 lists accompanying documents and expressly names a Chinese product conformity certificate. That clause alone does not establish a separate Chinese-language mandate for every listed document. Other product and mandatory-standard requirements need to be checked for the vehicle and document type.

Authority SAMRSource record 2026-09-04Editorial update 2026-10-11
Compiled from public sources

Compiled from public official sources. The source retrieval dates below apply to the cited findings; this editorial review does not revalidate every provision or current standard edition. A language requirement marked to verify has not been established from the cited text. Confirm current product-specific requirements before filing or making an external commitment.

Language requirements by document type

Each row states what was established, the provision it rests on, and when it was retrieved. Rows marked to verify are ones this research could not settle against an official provision — they are shown rather than omitted.

DocumentChinese requiredDetailBasisSource
Product conformity certificateRequired Article 8 lists what the producer must supply with a household vehicle, and names the conformity certificate specifically as a Chinese one. This is the clearest language obligation in the household-vehicle rules: the other accompanying documents are named without an explicit language clause in the same article. Whether the owner manual and maintenance handbook carry an explicit Chinese-language mandate of their own, rather than following from the certificate clause, was not confirmed from this text.Provisions on Liability for Repair, Replacement and Return of Household Automotive Products, SAMR Order No. 43 (2021), Article 8www.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable
Owner manual, warranty certificate, maintenance handbookTo verify The same article requires the producer to supply the owner manual, the warranty certificate and the maintenance handbook with the vehicle, alongside the product consistency certificate and, where tools are included, an accessory list. The cited article lists these documents but does not itself state a separate Chinese-language requirement for each of them. SAMR Order No. 43 (2021), Article 8www.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable
Warranty certificate contentTo verify Article 9 fixes what the warranty certificate must contain, across eight categories: vehicle identity including VIN and production date, producer contact and service line, seller details with invoice and delivery dates, coverage periods and compensation coefficients, and — for electric vehicles — the battery capacity degradation limit. Each of these is a field a translator can get structurally wrong without the sentence reading wrong. SAMR Order No. 43 (2021), Article 9www.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable
Recall notice to ownersTo verify Where a defect is confirmed, Article 18 requires the producer to publish information in a form the public can actually reach, covering the defect itself, the emergency handling method that avoids harm, and the measures the producer will take. Article 17 requires the recall plan filed with the authority to be given to dealers at the same time. This is public-facing text written under time pressure, which is exactly when terminology drifts from the manual it is supposed to match. Regulation on the Administration of Recall of Defective Automotive Products, State Council Order No. 626, as revised in 2019, Articles 17 and 18www.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable
Records retained for the authorityTo verify Article 9 requires producers to keep design, manufacturing, labelling and inspection records together with first-owner information for not less than ten years. Article 10 requires reporting of basic product information, technical parameters, owner data, repair and replacement incidents, and recall action taken outside China. Labelling records being explicitly in scope means label wording has to remain reproducible a decade later, not only correct at launch. The regulation does not state a language for these records; the Chinese-language point here is about label wording being retrievable, not about the record format.State Council Order No. 626, as revised in 2019, Articles 9 and 10www.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable
Electric vehicle safety standard in forceTo verify The official standards record lists GB 18384-2025, Electric vehicles safety requirements, as in force with an implementation date of 1 July 2026. The record alone does not establish model-specific transition arrangements or the content of revised clauses. Confirm the applicable edition and transition for the vehicle. Standard metadata checked; full normative clauses and model-specific transition not reviewed.National standards platform record for GB 18384, showing GB 18384-2020 as withdrawn and replaced in full by GB 18384-2025openstd.samr.gov.cn2026-10-11verifiable

About the source markers

verifiable
The link opens the provision itself — you can check that row by clicking it.
portal only
The link opens the authority's portal. It confirms the body and the scheme, but the specific reference or status on that row cannot be verified from that page alone.

Terminology consistency across submissions

Vehicle terminology should be checked against the applicable standard edition and approved product documentation. GB 18384-2025 is listed as in force, implemented 1 July 2026; a metadata record does not establish every model-specific transition or changed safety term.

  • GB 18384-2025 — Electric vehicles safety requirements; official record lists implementation on 1 July 2026.
Terminology maintenance for this sector is not a one-off exercise. When a governing standard is replaced, the affected terms have to be traced through every document that inherited them — manuals, on-screen text, service documentation and warranty material — not corrected only where someone happens to notice.

openstd.samr.gov.cn · retrieved 2026-10-11

Where companies get this wrong

01

GB 18384-2020 is the current electric vehicle safety standard

Do not assume a prior standard number remains the applicable reference. The official record lists GB 18384-2025 as in force from 1 July 2026. Model-specific transition and the affected clauses need confirmation before inherited documentation is revised.

openstd.samr.gov.cn
02

The warranty certificate is a commercial document, so its wording is up to the manufacturer

Its content is set by regulation. SAMR Order No. 43 fixes eight categories that the certificate must carry, including the battery capacity degradation limit for electric vehicles. Treating it as marketing copy risks dropping a required field rather than merely phrasing one awkwardly.

www.samr.gov.cn
03

A recall can be handled through the dealer network alone

The regulation requires the producer to publish recall information in a way the public can reach, covering the defect, the emergency handling method and the corrective measures — in addition to giving dealers the filed recall plan. The owner-facing text is a required output, not an optional communication.

www.samr.gov.cn
04

Once the vehicle is launched, the label wording no longer matters

Labelling records must be kept for not less than ten years, along with design, manufacturing and inspection records and first-owner information. What was printed on a label has to remain retrievable long after the model has left the line.

www.samr.gov.cn

What documentation problems have led to

No public case naming a document or language problem as the stated cause was found for this sector. What follows is the regulatory position, recorded without predicting outcomes.

Accompanying documents

The household-vehicle rules name the Chinese conformity certificate among the documents that must be supplied with the vehicle, and fix the content of the warranty certificate. No public case was located in which a document or language defect was stated as the ground for an enforcement action.

www.samr.gov.cn
Recall

Producers must publish defect information, emergency handling methods and corrective measures in a publicly reachable form, and must submit progress and summary reports on the recall. Whether any recall has been questioned on the wording of that public notice was not established from public sources.

www.samr.gov.cn
Standards citation

The official record lists GB 18384-2025 as in force from 1 July 2026. A model-specific transition or filing consequence is not established by that metadata record.

openstd.samr.gov.cn

Common questions

Which document carries the clearest Chinese-language requirement?

The product conformity certificate. Article 8 of SAMR Order No. 43 names it as a Chinese certificate among the items that must be supplied with a household vehicle. The other accompanying documents are listed in the same article without an explicit language clause, which is why we describe the certificate separately rather than folding everything into one blanket statement.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

Is the warranty certificate content regulated?

Yes. Article 9 sets out eight categories it must contain, including vehicle identity and VIN, producer and seller details, coverage periods and compensation coefficients, and the battery capacity degradation limit for electric vehicles. These are structured fields; a translation can render each sentence acceptably and still lose one.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

We already have Chinese documentation from a previous model. Can we carry it forward?

Check the document version, product scope and applicable standard edition before reuse. GB 18384-2025 is listed as in force from 1 July 2026, but the model-specific transition was not established in this review.

Retrieved 2026-10-11

How long do we need to be able to reproduce our label wording?

Not less than ten years. Labelling records sit alongside design, manufacturing and inspection records and first-owner information in the retention requirement of the recall regulation.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

Does a recall require owner-facing Chinese text?

The regulation requires information to be published in a form the public can reach, covering the defect, the emergency handling method and the corrective measures. It does not spell out a language clause in that article, but the audience is Chinese owners. Confirm the current wording before relying on this for a live recall.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

Is GB 7258 still current?

The earlier research recorded GB 7258-2017 as in force at its retrieval date. Its current amendments, replacement position and applicability have not been revalidated here; check the official standards record before relying on it.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

Can you tell us whether our documentation set is complete for China?

We can set out what the cited provisions require and where your material does not correspond to them, with the source for each point. Whether a specific submission is accepted is decided by the competent authority, and a determination on that belongs to a qualified professional in China.

Retrieved 2026-09-04

What this research did not settle

The following could not be established against an official source in this round, and so was not written into the findings above. It is listed so you can see where the research stops.

  • The published full text of GB 18384-2025 was not located on the public standards platform; its transition dates are taken from the replacement record and an official interpretation, not from the standard text.
  • Whether the owner manual and maintenance handbook carry a Chinese-language mandate in their own right, rather than by implication from the certificate clause, was not confirmed.
  • The language provisions inside GB 7258-2017 itself were not read; only its number, title, status and implementation date were verified.
  • CCC implementation rules for vehicles (CNCA-C11-01) were not retrieved at document level; the certification body portal was reachable but the rule text was not confirmed.
  • Requirements applying to imported vehicles specifically, as distinct from household vehicles generally, were not separated out in this pass.
  • Component-level requirements below the vehicle level were not covered.

Sources

  • State Council policy portal and gazette (gov.cn)
  • National standards platform (std.samr.gov.cn)
  • National standards full-text disclosure (openstd.samr.gov.cn)
  • State Administration for Market Regulation (samr.gov.cn)

Retrieved 2026-09-04

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About this page

This page presents regulatory research intended to help companies understand documentation requirements in a target market. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for qualified legal counsel.

All regulation numbers, effective dates, and status indicators on this page carry a source and a retrieval date. Regulations may change after that date. For determinations of legal effect, the official-language text and the current rules of the competent authority govern.

Before this material is used for filing, certification, or any external commitment, we recommend review by a licensed attorney in the target market.

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