In December 2001, the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China issued the Regulations for Compulsory Product Certification. The Compulsory Product Certification System began to replace the original Quality License System for Commodity Inspection and Safety Certification System for Electrical Equipment.

The abbreviation of China Compulsory Product Certification is CCC or 3C.  It is the statutory compulsory safety certification system and the basic approach to safeguard the consumers' rights and interests and protect the personal and property safety, which is adopted widely by international organizations.

China Compulsory Certification System came into force since May 1, 2002.  In accordance with the joint announcement No.38 [2003] by the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China, the time for implementing the supervision and management of the market for compulsory product certification was decided on August 1, 2003.

In order to strengthen the responsibility of market，and optimizing the compulsory product certification system. The CNCA has revised and issued the, which will be implemented from January 1, 2020. For products within the scope of the compulsory product catalogue, which are applicable to self-declaration applications, according to the requirements of the implementation rules, appli​cants can apply for CCC certification according to self-declaration methods. For these have completed the self-declaration process and successfully filed with the CNCA, they can post and use the CCC logo themselves.

For enterprises that have obtained a CCC certificate, and the certificate is still within the validity period, it can be converted within the scope of products applicable to self-declaration. After the conversion, the original certificates will be cancelled.​​