What is a Trade Association?

An industry association refers to a social intermediary organization that is located between the government and enterprises, between commodity producers and operators, and serves, consults, communicates, monitors, is fair, self-regulated, and coordinated. An industry association is a non-governmental organization. It does not belong to the government's management agency series, but a bridge and bond between government and enterprises. Industry associations belong to the corporate legal person stipulated in China's "Civil Law" and are a type of Chinese civil society organizations, namely non-governmental organizations (NGOs) collectively called internationally, which are not-for-profit organizations.

Industry Association

Representative: Represent the common interests of all enterprises in this industry.

Communication: As a bridge between the government and enterprises, communicate the common requirements of the enterprises to the government, and assist the government in formulating and implementing industry development plans, industrial policies, administrative regulations and related laws.

Coordination: Formulate and implement regulations and various standards to coordinate business behaviors among enterprises in the industry.

Supervision: Strictly supervise the quality of products and services, competition methods, and business style in this industry, maintain industry credibility, encourage fair competition, and crack down on violations of laws and regulations.

Fairness: Entrusted by the government to conduct qualification review, issue certificates, such as market access qualification certification, issue certificate of origin, quality inspection verification,

In 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council jointly issued the Opinions on Further Regulating the Management of Charges by Industry Associations and Chambers of Commerce.

In October 2018, a person in charge of the Social Organization Management Bureau of the Ministry of Civil Affairs stated that from the annual inspection of the first batch of national associations, Jiucheng Association Chamber of Commerce actively regulated the charging behavior. In order to implement the Opinions, during the annual inspection of national social organizations, the Social Organization Management Bureau of the Ministry of Civil Affairs specially designed a report to adjust the standard dues, put forward work requirements, and urged more than 780 national associations and chambers of commerce to clear the standard dues. ^[1]