The lighting industry in China is not short of standards, but emerging new standards in various regions is seriously wasting resources. “China has put too much focus on LED product standards, while overlooking basic standard systems,” said Chen Yansheng, President of China Association of Lighting Industry. “This has been the root of confusion within the Chinese lighting industry.” 

It would be wonderful if the industry is capable of formulating a unified standard followed by everyone, said Chen. LEDs are not a luxury item and can be found in any common lighting environment, including indoor lighting, TV, automotive lighting, and even flashlights. Markets related to LEDs are limitless. Global LED production is moving to China, which already holds 50 percent of all LED package and 60 percent of all LED application production. 

In the LED industry where “standards are above all else”, the above statistics reflects voicing rights. As a result, some sectors and associations will establish LED technological quality standards to secure market share. Currently, a large number of LED industry standards are spontaneously established by autonomous manufacturer associations in various regions. If these standards cannot convince others, it is essentially meaningless. 

There is no denying that regional standards can benefit manufacturers and the corresponding region, but it will also create barriers for local technology and trade. Insufficient market competition is not beneficial towards LED industry technological advancement, and can be tougher for consumers. If LED standards vary across regions, consumers would have to become industry experts to fully comprehend the products they are buying.

If manufacturers can work from the standpoint of consumer interests, unified standards will not be hard to find. LED R&D is gathered around the areas that consumers are most concerned about, which include cost/performance, consumption, lifespan, safety, and other performance indexes. Companies should consider making products the 

market needs only by doing so is making a “universal industry standard.”