GB 29753 and UNECE ATP: which compliance applies to your route
GB 29753-2023 is a Chinese mandatory product standard. The UNECE ATP is a treaty on the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs. They serve different legal purposes, they are not mutually substitutable, and there is no official table for converting one into the other. This page is a selector: it tells you which of them your shipment actually needs, and it states plainly where China stands.
Two instruments, two legal purposes
The most common error in supplier websites is treating “complies with GB 29753” as equivalent to “can carry perishable food internationally”. They are different legal acts, issued under different systems, for different journeys.
| Dimension | GB 29753-2023 | UNECE ATP |
|---|---|---|
| Legal nature | A Chinese mandatory national standard — domestic technical regulation | An intergovernmental treaty under the UNECE framework |
| What it governs | Safety requirements and test methods for refrigerated vehicle products | Conformity of special equipment used for the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs |
| Who issues the certificate | A Chinese certification body (for example CCAP, for CCC type approval) | A testing station designated or approved by a Contracting Party’s competent authority |
| Territorial scope | Road transport inside China | Transport operations between at least two Contracting Parties |
| Consequence of non-compliance | The vehicle cannot be produced, registered or pass annual inspection | Detected at a roadside check, penalised under that country’s national law |
| Enforcement body | Chinese market-regulation and transport authorities | None centrally — each Contracting Party enforces within its own territory |
The last row is the one most often misread. The Agreement states that it is “an Agreement between States, and there is no overall enforcing authority. In practice, highway checks are carried out by Contracting Parties.” There is no ATP inspectorate to appeal to.
Which compliance applies depends on where the truck runs, not on how cold it gets
Find the row that describes your shipment. Most enquiries we receive fall into row 1 or row 2; rows 3 to 5 apply when the vehicle will be used across borders inside the ATP area.
| # | Your situation | Compliance required | Issued by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The truck operates inside China | GB 29753-2023 conformity, plus CCC type approval | Chinese certification bodies, e.g. CCAP |
| 2 | Export to a non-ATP country — Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania | Destination-country import conformity, plus Chinese export formalities | Destination standards body or its appointed agent |
| 3 | Export to an ATP Contracting Party for international transport | ATP certificate of compliance, certification plate, distinguishing marks | Testing station designated or approved by that Party’s competent authority |
| 4 | Export to an ATP Contracting Party, used only inside that country | That country’s national rules, which may take ATP as their basis | That country’s competent authority |
| 5 | Built in China, exported, finally registered in a Contracting Party | Inspection accepted by the registering country’s competent authority | A station approved by a Contracting Party (see 04 below) |
Row 2 is where most of our shipments sit. Rows 3 to 5 involve a certificate we cannot issue ourselves — see the next two sections for exactly why.
What the ATP actually measures, and the numbers it sets
ATP Annex 1 classifies equipment into five groups. The figures below are quoted from the Agreement as amended on 22 June 2024. They are the thresholds a testing station applies — they are not measurements of any vehicle we build.
3.1 Insulated equipment
| Class | Designation | K coefficient limit | Additional condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| IN | Normally insulated | ≤ 0.70 W/m²·°C | — |
| IR | Heavily insulated | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C | Side walls ≥ 45 mm where width exceeds 2.50 m |
3.2 Refrigerated equipment — non-mechanical cold source (ice, eutectic plates, dry ice, liquefied gas)
With an external mean temperature of +30 °C, the empty body must be brought down to and held at:
| Class | Internal temperature | K coefficient limit |
|---|---|---|
| A | +7 °C (44.6 °F) | — |
| B | −10 °C (14 °F) | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
| C | −20 °C (−4 °F) | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
| D | 0 °C (32 °F) | — |
3.3 Mechanically refrigerated equipment — the group that matters for a refrigerated truck
| Class | Internal temperature capability Ti | K coefficient limit |
|---|---|---|
| A | Selectable between +12 °C and 0 °C | — |
| B | Selectable between +12 °C and −10 °C | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
| C | Selectable between +12 °C and −20 °C | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
| D | Ti ≤ 0 °C | — |
| E | Ti ≤ −10 °C | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
| F | Ti ≤ −20 °C | ≤ 0.40 W/m²·°C |
A body that holds −18 °C corresponds to Class F. Class F carries a K coefficient limit of 0.40 W/m²·°C or lower. This is the class most of our export enquiries ultimately need — and the one where a test report, not a brochure, decides the answer.
3.4 Heated equipment, and combined refrigerated/heated equipment
| Group | Classes | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Heated | A, B, C, D | Raise to and hold ≥ +12 °C for at least 12 hours without an external energy supply. Classes B, C and D additionally require K ≤ 0.40; the class letter denotes the external mean temperature the equipment is rated for (−10, −20, −30, −40 °C). |
| Mechanically refrigerated and heated | A to L (12 classes) | Combinations of Ti capability (+12 to 0 °C, or +12 to −20 °C) with an external temperature class of −10, −20, −30 or −40 °C. |
Why we publish these numbers and still publish no K value for our own bodies: the numbers above are thresholds written in a treaty. A K value for a specific body is a measured result that only a third-party test report can supply. We do not carry a report for every model, so we do not print a K value next to any model. Ask us about the model you are considering and we will say whether a report exists for it.
China is not an ATP Contracting Party, and that changes the paperwork
This is a fact about the treaty, not a limitation of the vehicle. Buyers who do not know it usually discover it at the port.
The mainland of China is not a Contracting Party to the ATP. Under Annex 1, Appendix 1, §1, conformity checks are carried out at a testing station designated or approved by the competent authority of the country in which the equipment is registered. The same provision allows one exception: where the check has already been carried out in the country of manufacture at a station designated or approved for that purpose, it need not be repeated in the country of registration.
Because no ATP competent authority exists in the mainland of China, equipment built there will in practice be inspected by a station approved by a Contracting Party’s competent authority. We state this as an expectation drawn from the text, not as a published ruling, and we recommend confirming the route with your own country’s competent authority before ordering.
ATP conformity is not issued once and forgotten
Two durations govern a certificated vehicle: how often it is re-checked, and how long the type approval behind it stays valid.
| Item | Requirement | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| When the check happens | Before the equipment enters into service, then at least once every six years, and whenever the competent authority requires it | Annex 1, App. 1, §1 |
| Type approval for series production | One unit may be tested for a production series; the test report serves as the type approval certificate and is valid for six years | Annex 1, App. 1, §2(a) |
| What is issued | Certificate of compliance, certification plate, distinguishing marks | Annex 1, App. 3 |
| How insulation and cooling are measured | Prescribed measurement procedures for insulating capacity and cooling capacity | Annex 1, App. 2 |
What this page deliberately does not claim
Five refusals, each with its reason. A page that answers everything about two legal systems is usually guessing.
The pages this one depends on
Tell us the route, not just the temperature
If you tell us where the vehicle will be registered and whether it will cross a border, we can say which of the five routes above applies, and what we can and cannot supply as evidence. That answer takes one email and saves a great deal of confusion later.
Send us the destination country and the intended use. We will reply with the compliance route and the documents we hold for that model.
Ask about your routeSources and verification. ATP figures quoted from the Agreement on the International Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs, text as amended 22 June 2024, Annex 1 and Annex 1 Appendices 1–3 (UNECE, unece.org, retrieved 2026-10-26). The ATP text in force from 25 August 2026 is listed by the UNECE status page; its Annex 1 has not been compared line by line with the 2024 edition, so the figures above are attributed to the 2024 edition. GB 29753-2023 status and dates per the China national standards database (openstd.samr.gov.cn, retrieved 2026-10-26). Last verified 2026-10-27.
Zhejiang Miaosheng Automobile Co., Ltd. · No.38 Yonghe East Road, Leidian Town, Deqing County, Huzhou, Zhejiang, China · Page last verified 2026-10-27.