CCIC chooses Barcelona to set up its certification & inspection lab for the European products China imports

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan capital will host the certification and inspection lab that the China Certification & Inspection Group (CCIC) will base in Europe to analyse and validate the products that the Asian giant imports. The Chinese company will initially invest €2 million in its Barcelona centre, which will be built in the Zona Franca industrial and business district, located next to the city’s port and airport. The CCIC carries out the inspection, verification and certification of foreign products entering the Chinese market, in order to make sure they are in line with China’s standards. The news was confirmed on Tuesday by the CCIC’s President, Zhan Li Qiang, in a meeting in Beijing with a business delegation of the Barcelona City Council. A year ago, the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, met the CCIC in Hong Kong, as the company was thinking about basing its lab in Barcelona but also in other European cities. Back then, the CCIC stated it would communicate its decision within the next few months. The China Certification & Inspection Group is the world’s fourth largest inspection and certification company. Currently, the company has offices in six European cities: Barcelona, Rotterdam, London, Bremen, Marseille and Moscow.

Talks started about a year ago, when a Catalan delegation chaired by Trias visited China. The Port of Barcelona, the Zona Franca Management Administration, Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce and Barcelona Regional (which attracts investments) were also part of the delegation. On the 25^th of June, a final meeting between the City Council and the company took place in the Catalan capital. On that day, the Mayor of Barcelona met up with the President of the CCIC and other executives for a final round of talks.

Trias emphasised that the CCIC’s final decision to set up its European lab in the Catalan capital “consolidates Barcelona’s position as a city for innovation and business” and “strengthens the strategic prioritisation to become the main logistics platform of southern Europe, becoming the main reference centre in the goods traffic between China and Europe”. According to the Mayor, the arrival of the CCIC will be extremely positive for the city’s industrial and logistics sectors. “Barcelona is a city full of opportunities, which takes pride in helping companies to grow, generate jobs and work towards recovering from the economic crisis”, he added.