The Green Building Rating Standards jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Construction and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine will take effect on 1 June 2006. It will be China's first multi-target and multi-level recommended national standards for the overall rating of green buildings based on the full life span of residential and public buildings.

According to Vice Minister of Construction Huang Wei, the Residential Buildings Code and Technical Specifications of Performance Assessment for Residential Buildings formulated, examined and approved by the Ministry of Construction have been in force since 1 March 2006.

The Residential Buildings Code is China's first set of mandatory national standards for residential construction based on existing mandatory provisions and relevant standards, with technical specifications for the performance, functions and objectives of residential buildings.

The Technical Specifications of Performance Assessment for Residential Buildings are China's first recommended national standards for the assessment of the overall performance of residential buildings. Just like the soon-to-be-implemented Green Building Rating Standards, the technical specifications further guide the development of residential and public buildings in a more scientific, more resource-efficient and performance-oriented direction on the basis of the Residential Buildings Code and other mandatory standards. They play an important role in the construction, use, maintenance and management of residential and public buildings in China.

According to Huang, these three sets of standards embody the spirit of building a resource-efficient and environmentally-friendly society at different levels and for different effects. They also represent a major move to improve the architectural quality of residential and public buildings and protect public interests.