Study Tour about requirements for reference materials

The Quality Infrastructure Project deals with a common definition of the requirements on reference materials of inorganic elements in toys for Germany and China.

The study tour from 31 March to 2 April 2014 aimed to achieve a common level of knowledge about the current research status and the development approaches to reference materials in both countries, in order to plan the further implementation of the project´s core topic on the basis of a common knowledge. The Chinese delegation – consisting of specialists from local import-export inspection and quarantine offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen and the provinces Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, first visited the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, before leaving to Stuttgart to inform themselves about the research of Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation concerning reference materials for paints and coatings.

At the opening workshop on 31 March 2014 at BMWi in Berlin, which was opened by Mr. Joachim Geiss (Deputy Head of Unit for product safety, market surveillance and technical harmonization in BMWi), the experts from BAM, TÜV Rheinland and China explained respective research methods. After a subsequent constructive discussion it was agreed that expert groups will be designated from both sides to intensify the technical work in the project´s core topic.