Home » The Biweekly Pulse: 22nd September – 3rd October – China Product Safety, Saudi Arabia RoHS, and Philippines Financial Reporting Standards Updates
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The Biweekly Pulse: 22nd September – 3rd October – China Product Safety, Saudi Arabia RoHS, and Philippines Financial Reporting Standards Updates

Oct 08, 2025 The Biweekly Pulse: 22nd September – 3rd October – China Product Safety, Saudi Arabia RoHS, and Philippines Financial Reporting Standards Updates

The Pulse was originally posted on 8th October, 2025. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.

Check out the latest 2025 Regulatory Compliance Updates with The Pulse, your biweekly source for global regulatory insights!

  1. Navigating Global Packaging Regulations: Expert Insights and Analysis, Webinar, September 2025
  2. PFAS Under Pressure: Key Trends and Challenges Worldwide, White Paper, September 2025
  3. Global RoHS Comparison Table, September 2025

What is Our Content Team Talking About?

Strengthening Safety: China SAMR Outlines Key Work in Industrial Product Quality and Safety Regulation

by Joyce Costello, Senior Regulatory Compliance Specialist

On 25 September 2025 China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) held a special press conference to report on its key efforts in regulating industrial product quality and safety this year.

Wang Shengli, Director of the Quality Supervision Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, outlined six core areas of work:

1. Strict Control of Source Access

SAMR is accelerating the revision of regulations like the Regulations on the Administration of Industrial Product Production Permits and its implementing rules, and establishing a mechanism for dynamic adjustment of the product catalogue. This year, the administration issued 4,216 industrial product production licenses to 4,071 enterprises and denied 216 applications. Furthermore, it intensified CCC certification management, with designated certification bodies revoking 33,000 CCC certificates for products that failed to maintain compliance.

2. Rigorous Investigation of Hazards

SAMR launched several plans, including the Three-Year Action Plan for Investigating and Rectifying Quality Safety Hazards in Key Industrial Products (2025-2027) and the Three-Year Action Plan for Safety Protection of Children’s and Students’ Products (2025-2027). The focus is on 23 categories (84 types) of high-risk products, such as wires and cables, gas appliances, and building insulation materials, as well as key children’s and students’ products.

3. Strict Supervision

SAMR is conducting national supervision and spot checks on 164 categories of products, totaling over 16,000 batches. This includes key areas like children’s products, gas appliances, mobile power banks and vehicle-related products. For the first time, specialized spot checks were launched for products like photovoltaic modules and new energy vehicles to prevent low-price, low-quality risks. The supervision of products sold online has also been significantly increased, with the number of batches checked rising by 70% compared to 2024.

4. Crackdown on Illegal Activities 

Targeted and concentrated clean-up actions focused on products with prominent issues, such as electric bicycles, building insulation materials, and down jackets. This year, local market supervision departments handled 10,912 illegal cases related to electric bicycles, with fines totaling 90.84 million yuan.

5. Promotion of Product Coding

A pilot program is underway for 10 key products, including gas stoves, induction cookers, and children’s shoes, to build a mechanism where codes are assigned at the source, verified and displayed by platforms, and recognized and used by consumers. This aims to address issues like product mismatches and counterfeiting.

6. Enhancement of Product Quality 

SAMR offers quality technical assistance through programs like “Circuit Consultation,” “Quality Consultation,” and “You Order, I Help”. So far this year, this initiative has assisted 103,000 enterprises, helping them increase industrial output value by 11.88 billion yuan. Oversight of defective product recalls has also been strengthened.

Focus on Mobile Power Banks 

Following multiple spontaneous combustion incidents, this year SAMR has focused heavily on mobile power bank safety and recalls. Under SAMR’s investigation, three companies implemented recalls involving over 1.35 million defective units.

SAMR also ensured the extension of recalls to online sales channels, given that power bank products are primarily sold through e-commerce platforms.

SAMR is now urging e-commerce operators and manufacturers to strictly fulfil their online recall responsibilities in accordance with the “Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Further Strengthening Recall Supervision of Consumer Products Sold Online,” leveraging the convenience and speed of online recalls, extending recalls from offline to online.

In addition, to strengthen oversight, the CCC certification mode for mobile power banks and lithium batteries now includes initial factory inspections before certification and unannounced “flying inspections” afterwards. Type testing samples are now collected at the production site instead of being provided by the enterprise.

What Are Our Knowledge Partners Talking About?

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Updates to RoHS Framework

by RINA

The Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) has notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of a draft Technical Regulation (TR) that will reshape the country’s RoHS framework. This move aligns the regulation with Saudi Arabia’s new Product Safety Law, introduces clearer obligations for economic operators, and expands the list of restricted substances, adding four phthalates (Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)) to further align with EU RoHS.

Key Highlights of the Draft Regulation

The scope of products included now mirrors EU RoHS, except for medical devices, which remain excluded. It introduces expanded definitions, clarifying formal roles for economic operators such as manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers and distributors. Technical files must be in Arabic or be accompanied by a certified translation and must be retained for 10 years after placing the product on the market. Products must meet basic safety requirements.

Economic Operators placing products on the market must carry out conformity assessment procedures and obtain a Supplier Declaration of Conformity (Type S model) under Saudi RoHS, which can be issued via self-declaration if the supplier is based in Saudi Arabia or via an Authorized Representative based in the country.

The new TR will be effective within 180 days of publication in the Official Gazette, with a one-year transition period.

i الدليل التوجيهي لعمل اللجان اإلدارية

What Are Our Clients Asking About?

Could you share any update on the status of the application of the Philippines Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) to sustainability reports?

Answered by Hannah Janknecht, Regulatory Compliance Specialist

In the Philippines, a memorandum circular setting out the application details for the national version of the sustainability reporting standards IFRS S1 and S2 (PFRS) was under public consultation until 15 August 2025. To date, it hasn’t been finalized yet.

It proposes the following implementation timeline:

  • Tier 1 (first reporting in 2027 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2026): Publicly-listed companies (PLCs) with market capitalization of more than PHP 50 billion;
  • Tier 2 (first reporting in 2028 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2027): PLCs with market capitalization of more than PHP 3 billion up to PHP 50 billion;
  • Tier 3 (first reporting in 2029 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2028): PLCs with market capitalization of less than PHP 3 billion and Large non-listed companies (LNLs) with annual revenue of more than PHP 15 billion.

The assurance requirements will be phased in as follows:

Mandatory limited assurance on Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions shall be required two years after the initial mandatory PFRS implementation deadlines for each tier:

  • Tier 1: first mandatory limited assurance required for reporting in 2029 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2028;
  • Tier 2: first mandatory limited assurance required for reporting in 2030 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2029;
  • Tier 3: first mandatory limited assurance required for reporting in 2031 for FY beginning on or after 1 January 2030.

In addition, the draft contains a number of proposed transition reliefs:

  • Climate-first reporting: Companies are permitted to disclose only information on climate-related risks and opportunities for 1 year (Tier 1 and 2) or 2 years (Tier 3);
  • Delayed publication of sustainability reports: Companies may submit its sustainability report along with the next second-quarter/half year financial statements or within nine months if there’s no such statement for the first reporting year;
  • No comparative information: the first report is exempted from reporting comparative information;
  • Alternative method: Companies may use methods other than that of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for the first report;
  • Scope 3 emissions phase-in: The first mandatory report including scope 3 emissions is due in the third reporting year;
  • Exemptions for child LNL: An LNL is not subject to mandatory reporting requirements provided that its sustainability-related information is to be disclosed in the report of its parent company in the Philippines. 

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