Reference

Glossary of China procurement and inspection terms

Inspection and acceptance

FAT(Factory Acceptance Test): The contract-defined acceptance event at the manufacturer’s premises before shipment, verifying the equipment against the specification, drawings, performance requirements, and documentation package named in the purchase order. The contract assigns who accepts the result and what that acceptance releases. Where Sinospect supplies as principal, the factory’s final balance is released only after Sinospect’s QC on the order passes, including the FAT where the order requires one. What is a Factory Acceptance Test.
SAT(Site Acceptance Test): The equivalent acceptance event at the project site after installation, verifying that the equipment performs under real operating conditions, utilities, and plant integration. The SAT verifies what the factory could not: performance under site utilities and integration with the plant. FAT vs SAT.
SIT(Site Integration Test): Testing at the project site across equipment and system boundaries, verifying correct interaction between subsystems and with the wider plant or control system. Formally defined, with FAT and SAT, for process-automation systems in IEC/ANSI/ISA 62381.
PSI(Pre-shipment inspection): A factory check before loading, focused on what actually ships: quantity, packing, preservation, marking, documentation, and punch-item closure, with no substitution against the inspected unit. On an order with a FAT it follows the FAT; it can also be the only factory check. Pre-shipment inspection checklist.
DUPRO(During-Production Inspection): An in-process check while manufacturing is under way, on a partly completed lot, so non-conformities are caught before they are built into a finished unit rather than surfacing at the FAT.
ITP(Inspection and Test Plan): The agreed schedule of inspections and tests across the production cycle, naming each test, the standard it follows, the acceptance criteria, the instruments, and who witnesses. Agreed before manufacturing starts; the document a FAT is run against.
Punch list: The dated register of outstanding non-conformities and incomplete items recorded at an inspection or acceptance event. Each item carries a severity, an owner, and a closure date; the list informs the contract-assigned decision to release the equipment, release it with conditions, or hold it. Factory acceptance test checklist.
Factory audit: A structured assessment of a manufacturer’s quality system, production capability, and controls, conducted at the plant. Distinct from a FAT, which tests a specific order’s equipment, and from a qualification visit, a lighter walk-through before award. Factory visit checklist and visit vs audit.
Commissioning: The phase in which installed equipment is brought into operational service. Its relation to the SAT, calibration, training, handover and the start of the warranty is set by the contract.

Sampling and testing

AQL(Acceptable Quality Limit): The worst tolerable process average for a continuing series of lots, set per defect class (critical, major, minor). It indexes the sampling plan’s accept/reject numbers; a lot worse than the AQL can still pass on a given sample, so it is neither a per-lot ceiling nor a target for production quality. How AQL sampling works.
ISO 2859-1: An acceptance-sampling standard for inspection by attributes, with plans indexed by AQL. Specify the edition, inspection level, regime and plan before selecting the sample size and acceptance numbers. For a small bespoke order, agree whether per-unit checks are more appropriate and what they cover. How AQL sampling works.
Type test: A test on representative equipment to assess a design against the applicable product standard. Check that the report covers the ordered design and any changes, and whether the standard or contract requires further testing; a type-test report is not automatically valid for every later variant.
Routine test: A test required by the applicable product standard on each unit produced. For a transformer, establish the routine-test list from the governing IEC 60076 part and edition, transformer type and voltage; do not treat one generic test list as applying to all transformers. The inspection and test plan sets which tests are witnessed and at which stage.

Procurement and supply

EPC(Engineering, Procurement, Construction): Project-delivery model where one party is contracted to design, source, and build. EPC procurement support in China.
OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer): Used in supplier vetting to distinguish a factory from an intermediary. Sinospect qualifies and buys from OEMs, then supplies onward as the accountable supplier.
Supplier qualification: Verifying, before award, that a supplier exists legally, can actually manufacture what it claims, holds the certifications the project requires, and has delivered comparable equipment before. The step before price comparison, and the one most international buyers skip. China supplier qualification.
Manufacturer vs trading company: The distinction between a factory that makes the goods and an intermediary that resells them. The most reliable diagnostic is the business scope on the registered licence; address, registered capital, and technical questioning corroborate it. The risk is an opaque trader who marks up without proving quality or standing behind the goods. Manufacturer or trading company?.
MOQ(Minimum Order Quantity): Often a constraint in China sourcing.
Incoterms: International Commercial Terms (FOB, CIF, EXW, DDP, etc.) defining risk transfer and cost responsibility.

Supplier identity and standing (China)

Unified Social Credit Code(USCC): The 18-character identifier on a Chinese company’s business licence, the primary key for verifying that an entity is registered and active. Used to look the company up on the official registry rather than trusting a name on a quotation. How to verify a Chinese supplier.
GSXT(National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System): The official registry where a Chinese company’s registration, business scope, registered capital, and standing can be checked against its Unified Social Credit Code. How to verify a Chinese supplier.
SAMR(State Administration for Market Regulation): The authority that administers company registration in China and operates the GSXT registry.
EU-GMP(European Union Good Manufacturing Practice): The regulatory framework for medicinal-product manufacture. For regulated lines, the qualification documentation an end client will be audited against is part of the equipment’s acceptance, not an afterthought; a capable general-purpose unit can still fail on documentation alone.

Documentation and certification

CE marking: A manufacturer’s declaration that a product meets the EU legislation that applies to it and provides for CE marking, shown by the CE mark. It is a regulatory statement, not a quality mark: the manufacturer or its authorised representative affixes it, even where a notified body took part in the assessment, so the supporting technical file matters more than the symbol.
Declaration of Conformity(DoC): The signed EU declaration a manufacturer issues under its sole responsibility to state CE compliance. A usable one names the EU legislation and the harmonised standards or other specifications applied, the product and its identifiers, any notified body involved and the certificate it issued, and the signatory — not a generic one-line claim.
ISO 9001: The quality-management-system standard published by ISO. Certificates are issued by certification bodies, not by ISO and not by self-declaration; check the certificate, its scope and its validity with the issuing body and, where the buyer requires accredited certification, the accreditation behind it. China supplier qualification.
ATEX: The EU framework for potentially explosive atmospheres, including Directive 2014/34/EU for equipment and protective systems and Directive 1999/92/EC for workplaces. For equipment, identify the applicable legislation, group/category and declared conformity-assessment route. Check the declaration or attestation, technical evidence and any notified-body certificates against that route and the exact equipment, component or assembly covered; do not infer certificate requirements from the category alone.
IECEx: The IEC certification system for explosive atmospheres. Where the destination or project requires IECEx, compare the supplied certificate with its entry on the IECEx website: identity, status, exact product scope and conditions or limitations. Check the referenced test and quality records. It does not replace the ATEX route for the EU market; verify the evidence required by each applicable regime.
EN 12976: The European standard for factory-made solar thermal systems, cited frequently for solar water heaters and a common reference point when qualifying solar suppliers.
Solar Keymark: A voluntary European quality mark for solar thermal products, based on the EN 12975 and EN 12976 standards. A practical shorthand for whether a solar thermal product has been independently tested to the European norms.

Logistics and shipping

Bill of Lading(B/L): The carrier’s document acknowledging receipt of cargo for shipment. A bill made out to order can be transferred by endorsement, while a straight bill names the consignee and is not negotiable. The draft is checked against the invoice and packing list before issue; an incorrect or late B/L can delay release of the cargo at destination.
Packing list: The itemised list of contents per package, used for customs clearance and for reconciling what arrived against what was ordered. Mismatches between the packing list, the invoice and the physical goods are a common source of clearance delay.
HS code(Harmonised System code): The customs classification code that drives duty rates and clearance. The correct code belongs in the document pack before shipment; a wrong code means reassessment, delay, or an unexpected duty bill at the destination.

How Sinospect uses these terms

These are working definitions, not dictionary entries. They reflect how the terms are used on a live procurement file: a FAT result that feeds the payment and release decisions the contract assigns, an ITP agreed before manufacturing starts, a business scope read off the registered licence to tell a manufacturer from a trader. When Sinospect supplies equipment from China as the principal, the inspection and acceptance steps run before the factory’s final balance is released; for buyers sourcing direct, the same steps run on the client’s own order.

Start with supplier qualification and factory acceptance testing, or send a live file through contact for an initial review.