Standard positioning and implementation status
GB 44703-2024 was jointly released by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standardization Administration on September 29, 2024. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and implemented by the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Optical Radiation Safety and Laser Equipment (SAC/TC284). It is the first top-level mandatory national standard in the field of optical radiation safety in China and has legal binding force. The standard has been officially implemented on October 1, 2026- currently, relevant products entering the Chinese market must pass compliance testing and affix unified safety labels, and the old standard cannot be used as a compliance basis anymore.
Scope of application
The standard applies to the optical radiation safety control of two major categories of products and their working processes: laser products in the 180 nm to 1 mm wavelength range, and incoherent optical products in the 200 nm to 3 μ m wavelength range. As for lasers, industrial laser processing equipment (cutting, welding, marking), laser measuring instruments, laser indicators, medical laser equipment, communication laser modules, laser display and lighting products, laser components in consumer electronics, etc. all fall within the scope. It should be noted that whether it is applicable depends on the actual state of the light source type, wavelength, power, and touchable emission, and cannot be judged solely by the product name.
Relationship with GB 7247.1 and IEC 60825-1
This is the most crucial point in understanding the standard: GB 44703-2024 itself is a framework and top-level general requirement. It no longer directly provides all the technical details of laser classification, but "calls" two professional standards as technical basis according to product categories - laser products adopt GB/T 7247.1 (equivalent to IEC 60825-1:2014), and incoherent optical products adopt GB/T 30117.1 (corresponding to IEC 62471 in technical content). The original mandatory standard GB 7247.1-2012 (based on IEC 60825-1:2007) has been downgraded to the recommended standard GB/T 7247.1 under the new system.
The actual impact on export enterprises and cross-border products is that the existing test reports of IEC 60825-1 alone are no longer sufficient - because the new version of GB/T 7247.1 is equivalent to using IEC 60825-1:2014, while the old version is based on the 2007 version, and there are substantial differences between the two in classification rules, engineering protection requirements (such as adding Class 1C), and label content.
Core Content Framework
The standard revolves around four dimensions for general requirements, and testing is also conducted around these four dimensions:
Optical radiation safety risk classification: On the basis of the professional classification (1, 1M, 2, 2M, 3R, 3B, 4 categories) in GB/T 7247.1, an innovative general four level risk classification for the general public has been added - exemption level, low risk level, medium risk level, and high risk level, and the damage risk characteristics of each level to the eyes and skin have been extracted.
Risk identification: In addition to using professional laser warning triangles and category labels, the standard has added a universal graphic identification that is easy for the public to recognize, requiring standardized use on products and user documentation.
Safety control of luminous products: covering engineering protection measures such as protective shell, safety interlock, key control, manual reset, laser radiation emission warning, beam terminator, etc. The specific technical terms are quoted from GB/T 7247.1.
Safety control in the work process: This is a significant extension of the old system - the standard requirements cover the optical radiation safety of products during installation, commissioning, use, maintenance, and other work processes, and integrate the requirements of the occupational health management system, not just the product's factory status.
Identification and Technical Document Requirements
Labels and instructions should indicate risk levels, hazard warnings, and necessary protective guidelines. A hard requirement that is easily overlooked by international manufacturers is that user documentation must provide a Simplified Chinese version. In addition, consumer laser products such as laser pointers, laser toys, and consumer electronic products with laser assisted focusing have frequently encountered the problem of "false labeling Class 2, actual exceeding standards" in market supervision and spot checks. After the implementation of the new standards, such risks will become a focus of law enforcement.
Compliance Practice Suggestions
Enterprises that have obtained reports in accordance with IEC 60825-1:2014 still need to verify whether the report covers all differences in the provisions of GB/T 7247.1 and supplement the general grading, general identification, and work process control requirements unique to GB 44703; For those who only hold reports based on IEC 60825-1:2007 or the old version GB 7247.1-2012, reclassification and testing should be arranged. For complete machines containing laser modules (such as laser TVs, laser radars, and beauty devices), it is also necessary to confirm the connection between module level and whole machine level classification to avoid the gap of "module compliance and whole machine exceeding standards". The standard has come into effect, and it is recommended that companies that have not yet completed compliance conversion initiate gap analysis and inspection as soon as possible.
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