As a 2013 legislative plan item of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, the "Regulations on the Quality Management of Construction Projects of Guangdong Province (Revised Draft)" was recently submitted to the third session of the 12th Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress for deliberation. The draft requires that residential construction projects shall, before completion acceptance, organize quality acceptance on a per-unit basis in accordance with regulations, and only after such per-unit quality acceptance passes may the project completion acceptance be carried out.

　　Chen Yaoguang, chairman of the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, introduced that since the "Regulations on the Quality Management of Construction Projects of Guangdong Province" came into effect on January 1, 1997, it has played an important role in strengthening and standardizing the quality management of construction projects in Guangdong and ensuring the quality of construction projects. However, with the rapid development of the economy and society and the successive promulgation of relevant laws and regulations by the state, some provisions of the regulations can no longer meet the practical needs of Guangdong.

　　"Some provisions of the regulations are inconsistent with superior laws, and after their promulgation the state established many new construction project quality management systems. To align with them, the corresponding parts of the regulations need to be adjusted and supplemented," Chen Yaoguang said. On the other hand, in recent years Guangdong has researched and issued a series of policies and measures in construction project quality management that have achieved good results, and these policies and measures need to be confirmed through legislation to form long-term mechanisms. Therefore, revising the regulations is very necessary.

　　The reporter learned that the draft clearly defines the quality responsibilities and legal liabilities of the construction unit, survey unit, design unit, construction contractor, supervision unit, review unit, testing unit, concrete and precast component production units, and relevant personnel, further improves systems such as completion acceptance and project quality warranty, and strengthens supervision and inspection of construction quality.

　　The currently effective regulations do not set specific requirements for project completion acceptance, while the draft devotes a separate chapter to detailed provisions on this. The draft stipulates that for residential construction projects, per-unit quality acceptance shall be organized in accordance with regulations before completion acceptance, and only after such per-unit quality acceptance passes may the project completion acceptance be carried out; after completion acceptance of a construction project, the construction unit shall install a permanent plaque at a prominent part of the project, stating the names of the construction unit, survey unit, design unit, supervision unit and other entities responsible for project quality and the names of their principal persons in charge; after completion acceptance of a construction project, the construction unit shall go through project completion acceptance filing with the housing and urban-rural development department that issued the construction permit.

　　In terms of project quality warranty, the draft has also made adjustments. According to the draft, where quality problems occur in residential construction projects within the warranty scope and warranty period, the construction unit shall first bear the warranty responsibility, and after bearing the warranty responsibility, the construction unit may seek recourse against the party responsible for causing the quality problem.

　　In addition, the draft revises the warranty periods for roof waterproofing projects and electrical conduit projects from the original 3 years and 6 months to 5 years and 2 years. Chen Yaoguang told reporters, "This is because the 'Regulations on the Quality Management of Construction Projects' promulgated by the State Council in 2000 stipulate that for construction project quality warranty periods, roof waterproofing projects are 5 years, and electrical conduit projects and water supply and drainage pipeline projects are 2 years. The regulations are inconsistent with superior laws, so the revised draft correspondingly changes the current 3 years and 6 months to 5 years and 2 years, and provides that the construction project quality warranty period is calculated from the date of project completion acceptance."

　　The draft also proposes that the supervision unit shall bear quality responsibility. If it finds quality problems in building materials, etc., and fails to promptly order the construction contractor to stop using them, or finds that the construction contractor fails to construct in accordance with the reviewed and qualified construction drawings and design documents and fails to promptly order a stop, the supervision unit shall be ordered to make corrections. The penalty for supervision units is also changed from the original more than 10,000 yuan but less than 30,000 yuan to a fine of more than 100,000 yuan but less than 200,000 yuan.