AQSIQ confirms that commercial data will be treated confidentially

Following an official request by BIR, AQSIQ confirmed some days ago that the use of PSI electronic keys for the registration of overseas suppliers and importers as from 1 July 2012 should avoid any potential leak of business-sensitive information.

Recently, some BIR member companies had expressed concern that data given to AQSIQ (company names, license numbers, description of goods etc.) for the purpose of registering overseas suppliers and importers seemed to have been used by some agencies/consultants to inform interested companies on the Chinese market and potential customers.

BIR conveyed their members’ concern to AQSIQ and stressed the fact that the business-sensitive information must by all means be treated confidentially. AQSIQ assured BIR that in the future they will refrain from publishing any lists containing commercial data.

However, should BIR members detect further data leaks in the coming days, they should inform the BIR secretariat in Brussels immediately on bir@bir.org.