On May 16, 2026, the 2026 China International Camping Conference opened in Jinhua, Zhejiang. As the country’s first national-level industry platform focused on collaborative camping consumption within the RCEP region, this conference directly connects multiple links including outdoor equipment manufacturing, cross-border supply chains, green packaging, and international standards compliance. The procurement intention list and technical market access requirements released at the event are accelerating the transformation of export enterprises from ‘products going global’ to ‘standards-adapted globalization’.

Event Overview

From May 16–17, the 2026 China International Camping Conference was held in Jinhua, Zhejiang, attracting buyers from 7 countries including Spain, Malaysia, South Korea, and Vietnam. At the conference, the RCEP Camping Consumption Scenario Adaptation White Paper and the first recommended list of 32 Chinese camping equipment export enterprises were released. The organizers explicitly required that all exhibited products comply with ISO 5981 (outdoor equipment safety standard) and the new ASEAN green packaging regulations.

Which Sub-Sectors Will Be Affected

Direct trading enterprises: As the conference directionally releases procurement intention lists from RCEP countries, trading enterprises are facing changes in order structure——the proportion of non-price-oriented procurement is rising, placing rigid requirements on the completeness of product certification, scenario-based documentation (such as multilingual user manuals), and localized after-sales response capabilities; the impact is reflected in increased complexity of export documentation and higher upfront compliance investment, but in the long run it is expected to improve customer stickiness and bargaining room.

Raw material procurement enterprises: The new ASEAN green packaging regulations explicitly restrict PFAS additives, non-degradable plastic composite layers, and VOC content in inks, forcing upstream suppliers of textile base fabrics, coating adhesives, aluminum surface treatment, and others to accelerate validation of environmentally friendly substitute solutions; the impact is reflected in increased frequency of raw material testing, with traceable batch management becoming a prerequisite for cooperation.

Processing and manufacturing enterprises: The ISO 5981 standard adds rigid indicators such as graded wind-resistance testing for tents, tolerance limits for measured deviation in sleeping bag temperature ratings (±1.5℃), and dynamic load cycle counts for folding chairs, requiring production lines to add third-party pre-inspection stations and environmental simulation laboratories; the impact is reflected in rising retrofit costs for small-batch flexible production lines, but enterprises with rapid certification response capabilities are more likely to enter the recommended list.

Supply chain service enterprises: Including international logistics, certification agency services, multilingual technical documentation translation, and other service providers, because the white paper emphasizes ‘scenario adaptation’ (such as differentiated needs for tropical high humidity/island salt corrosion/high-altitude ultraviolet conditions), they need to upgrade from single-standard application to regional scenario package services (including climate adaptability descriptions, summaries of local regulations, and dialect dubbing for installation videos); the impact is reflected in finer service granularity and a higher proportion of knowledge-based added value.

Key Focus Areas and Response Measures for Relevant Enterprises or Practitioners

Immediately review gaps in ISO 5981 compliance for existing export products

Refer to the 12 mandatory test items in Annex A of the standard (including structural strength, flammability performance, and chemical migration limits), and prioritize completion of tent frame stress reports and re-testing of formaldehyde emissions from sleeping bag filling materials to avoid full-batch returns caused by a single non-compliant item.

Launch a compliance replacement roadmap for ASEAN green packaging

For products exported to countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia, complete updates to packaging material MSDS within 6 months, validate the process of replacing traditional PE composite film with PLA laminated paper, and simultaneously submit pre-review documents for EN13432 industrial compostability certification to customers.

Connect to the RCEP camping consumption scenario database

The white paper has opened an online query portal, allowing enterprises to retrieve 27 scenario parameters by target country, such as the altitude distribution of mainstream local campsites, average humidity zones, and commonly used fuel types, for optimizing product function design (such as adding anti-mildew coating options for the Thai market).

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

显然，这一事件标志着一种结构性转变：RCEP的价值已不再只是关税减免，而是监管趋同的支撑框架。ASEAN绿色包装规则——此前仅适用于电子产品和食品接触材料——如今被扩展至户外装备，这表明跨行业环境治理溢出正在发生。分析显示，入选的32家推荐企业有一个共同特征：它们都在过去12个月内完成了ISO 5981认证，这表明在标准采纳早期阶段，先发周期优势比规模更重要。从行业视角看，‘场景适配’白皮书更应被理解为一种需求侧规格工具——而非技术指南——这意味着制造商必须将气候数据视为研发输入，而不仅仅是合规输出。

Conclusion

This conference is not merely a promotional exhibition event, but the first systematic docking attempt under the RCEP framework anchored in segmented consumption scenarios and driven by mutual recognition of multilateral standards. Its significance lies in validating a new export logic of ‘standards first—scenario definition—procurement implementation’, providing a reusable institutional opening-up model for other consumer goods industries. What deserves more attention at present is whether a quarterly updated negative list for RCEP camping categories and a joint inspection mechanism will be formed subsequently.

Source Information

Organizers: China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, Jinhua Municipal People’s Government; Technical basis: ISO 5981:2023 “Outdoor equipment — Safety requirements and test methods”, ASEAN Guideline on Green Packaging for Non-Food Consumer Goods (2025 Draft). Note: The official text of the new ASEAN green packaging regulations is expected to be released by the ASEAN Centre for Energy in Q3 2026, and the relevant content remains subject to ongoing observation.