China's cabinet calls for improving product, project quality

The State Council, or the Cabinet, on Wednesday called for more efforts to improve the nation's product and project quality.

"China's product and project quality has lagged behind the country's economic development," according to a statement released Wednesday after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Quality issues of products and projects have caused serious economic losses, pollution and a waste of resources, bringing frequent incidents, especially those concerning food safety, it said.

Product and project quality is not only related to technologies and management, but is also a social issue, according to the statement.

The State Council urged Chinese enterprise owners to take up the primary responsibility to ensure quality and safety, while government departments should enhance monitoring over quality and safety.

More efforts should be undertaken to accelerate the establishment of a legal system on quality control, and a complete mechanism of quality assessment, it said.

The State Council also called for a credit system for products and projects, better branding and administrative works, as well as enhanced education and publicity to increase public awareness over quality issues.