Guangdong province and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions have issued 284 “Greater Bay Area standards” to promote the sharing of best practices and optimize the service ecosystem.
The standards cover multiple sectors, including elderly care, logistics and retail. Business and social service organizations in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, for instance, have jointly formulated general requirements for age-friendly and easy-to-eat foods.
The latest move classifies such foods into nine categories, helping food companies to manufacture products that can help the elderly to swallow foods easily. While improving the quality of care services for older adults, it also creates new growth opportunities for the silver economy.
Several leading jewelry companies in the Greater Bay Area participated in the drafting of the operational guidelines for jewelry retail enterprises, setting management requirements for the business to improve service quality.
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In the logistics and transportation sector, the guidelines for emergency cold-chain distribution of food, the standards for logistics services of automotive parts, and technical specifications for processing and transporting chilled golden pomfret, support product circulation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, which will help improve transportation efficiency and reduce spoilage.
The first batch of 110 GBA standards was promulgated in April 2023, covering mainly food safety, transportation, mechanical and electrical products, as well as environmental, social and governance.
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According to the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation, the province has helped 50,000 enterprises appoint a chief quality officer to strengthen quality control, and has established 63 service stations to support leading enterprises in key industrial chains to improve quality.
To promote collaboration between the manufacturing and service sectors, Guangdong has resolved more than 320 key common quality and technical challenges in fields like high-end precision manufacturing and new materials, helping 1,850 companies to overcome bottleneck obstacles.
The province will further step up efforts to leverage the technological, standard and brand advantages of leading enterprises to make joint quality improvements for upstream and downstream small and medium-sized enterprises.
