Plan Chinese document updates: separate confirmed requirements, partner requests and project dates. Track source revisions, decisions and review handovers.
View the file review example ↓View references (3) ↓Start with the requirement and the file it affects
A useful language calendar connects a confirmed requirement to the specific document and revision it affects. For a China cooperation project, keep the Chinese counterpart’s document request beside the source-file inventory; a requested delivery date and an applicable regulatory deadline need separate entries.
Identify the person who can confirm applicability, the source of the requirement and any unresolved question. This guide is a record-keeping method. Product-specific compliance decisions remain with the responsible regulatory or legal owner.
Keep three kinds of entry separate
Confirmed applicable requirement. Record the authority or other applicable source, the document category, the verification date and the owner who confirmed applicability. An unanswered applicability question remains open.
Counterpart request. Record what the Chinese recipient has asked to receive, who made the request and which documents it covers. Do not turn one partner’s preference into a requirement for every company entering China.
Project date. Record the agreed source freeze, Chinese review and return dates with the responsible people. A target in the translation schedule is not evidence of a statutory filing deadline.
The existing source and open-requirement registers provide fields for the source, applicability, file versions and decision owner. Reuse them rather than creating another parallel document inventory.
Tie it to your own change events
When a source file changes, record its new revision and the affected Chinese files. Identify related labels, help topics or manual passages for review; do not assume a change requires the whole document set to be translated again.
Keep the reason for the change visible: a revised source instruction, a new recipient request or a requirement confirmed by the responsible owner. Assign the decision and update the affected delivery dates only after its impact is agreed.
From reading to a project
Record why a Chinese file needs to change
Change record · fictional China handover
- Partner request
- Chinese manual requested for a review meeting; request owner and date to confirm
- Source change
- DEMO-DRAWING-A revision C replaces revision B; affected manual references to check
- Open decision
- Document owner to confirm the affected Chinese passages and references
- Project return
- Chinese review and return date to agree after the affected file set is confirmed
Review status: questions to confirm
Identify the reason
Keep a confirmed requirement, a counterpart request and an internal delivery date in separate fields.
Connect the revisions
Link the changed source to the affected Chinese file and record unresolved references.
Assign the decision
Identify who can confirm applicability or source meaning before closing the entry.
Related published experience
HF TireTech GroupEnglish → Chinese / Thai / Malay / Hindi
Tire-technology files, product manuals and technical standards translated from English into Chinese, Thai, Malay and Hindi.
HF TireTech records English technical files, product manuals and standards translated into Chinese and other languages. It supports related document experience, not delivery of this calendar, regulatory advice or confirmation of a legal deadline.
Chinese document update: identify actual source languages and Chinese script, changed source revision, affected Chinese files, confirmed requirement or counterpart request, source or request reference, open applicability question, decision owner, requested review, return format and target date. Keep regulatory deadlines, recipient requests and project dates separate.
Plan the China handover around an agreed source
For a fictional overseas-to-China handover, the partner asks for a Chinese manual for a review meeting. The source owner then issues a new drawing. Record the meeting request, the drawing revision and the Chinese return date separately; ask which manual references the drawing change affects. Do not label the meeting date a regulatory deadline.
Use the release-version guide for the wider language handover. Keep this calendar focused on why a document needs checking, who decides the open point and when the affected work is due.
Keep the requirement and its evidence together
Record the official URL, publication or revision date, applicable product and document, accepted language, trigger or deadline, reviewer and unresolved points. The Commission’s device-language tables, FDA’s eSTAR page and EUR-Lex machinery text illustrate different kinds of source; none covers every market or product.
Set a review interval with the responsible owner and recheck when the relevant source or project circumstances change. Record who checked it and when. A date without its source or applicability decision is not enough to explain why a Chinese file must change.
Questions
Can you tell us what our markets require?
How often should the calendar be reviewed?
What should we include when requesting a Chinese update?
Sources
- European Commission — language requirements for device manufacturersCountry tables are a starting point; check the table revision, document category, intended user and national provisions.
- FDA — eSTAR ProgramCurrent submission and technical-screening guidance; exceptions and submission-center instructions matter.
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 — Machinery RegulationArticles 51–54: main application and repeal date 20 January 2027, with earlier provisions and transitional rules.