Chinese and international refrigerated vehicle standards: what changed, and when
GB 29753-2023 replaced GB 29753-2013 in full on 1 January 2024. Any page still citing the 2013 edition is quoting a withdrawn standard, and the 2023 revision also changed the title. This page is a dated table rather than a summary, because a summary without dates is how the wrong edition keeps circulating.
Chinese standards for refrigerated vehicles
Only entries whose status and dates we could confirm in the official standards database appear here. Anything unconfirmed was left out rather than marked “current” by assumption.
| Standard | Title | Status | Published | In force | Replaces / replaced by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB 29753-2023 | Road transportation — Perishable foodstuffs and biological products — Safety requirements and test methods for refrigerated vehicles | In force | 2023-09-08 | 2024-01-01 | Replaces GB 29753-2013 in full |
| GB 29753-2013 | Road transportation — Foodstuffs and biological products — Safety requirements and test methods for refrigerated vehicles | Withdrawn | 2013-09-18 | 2014-07-01 | Replaced in full by GB 29753-2023 |
| QC/T 449-2010 | Technical conditions and test methods for insulated and refrigerated vehicles | Current | — | 2010-12-01 | — |
| GB/T 21145-2023 | Refrigerating units for transport use | In force | — | 2023-10-01 | — |
| GB/T 22918-2025 | Technical requirements for temperature-controlled transport of perishable food | In force | — | 2026-05-01 | — |
“Current” for QC/T 449-2010 means we found no superseding edition; it is an industry standard (QC series), not a mandatory national standard like GB 29753.
Two things that go wrong when this standard is quoted
Both are common on supplier sites and in tender documents. Both are checkable in a minute.
For leisure vehicles, the standard most often quoted is the wrong one
GB/T 36121 is a standard for towed caravans. It does not cover self-propelled motorhomes — the ZMS5xxxXLJ type. This is the single most common error we see on Chinese leisure-vehicle pages.
| Standard | Subject | Status | In force |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 36121-2018 | Towed caravans — technical requirements | In force | 2018-12-01 |
| GB/T 42289-2022 | Leisure vehicles — electrical systems for habitation | In force | 2023-07-01 |
| GB/T 41601-2022 | Leisure vehicles — safety ventilation | In force | 2022-11-01 |
| GB/T 22550-2008 | Leisure vehicles — terminology | Withdrawn | — |
| GB/T 22551-2008 | Leisure vehicles — caravans, habitation requirements | Withdrawn | — |
The scope wording of GB/T 36121-2018 is specific: it applies to caravans drawn by a motor vehicle fitted with a dedicated towing device, and camping trailers used as permanent accommodation may refer to it. A self-propelled motorhome is outside that scope. For a motorhome we point instead to GB/T 42289-2022 on habitation electrical systems and GB/T 41601-2022 on safety ventilation. A revision of GB/T 36121 is in public consultation — that does not change what is in force today.
The ATP has been amended, and two categories were expanded
Between the edition in force from 13 November 2014 and the edition in force from 22 June 2024, Annex 1 grew two categories. Supplier pages that quote ATP classes from a 2014-era source are therefore incomplete, not merely old.
| Item | Edition in force 2014-11-13 | Edition in force 2024-06-22 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heated equipment classes | A, B | A, B, C, D | Expanded |
| Heated equipment K requirement | Class B only, ≤ 0.40 | B, C and D all ≤ 0.40 | Tightened |
| Mechanically refrigerated and heated | A, B, C | A to L, 12 classes | Substantially expanded |
| Insulated classes IN / IR | ≤ 0.70 / ≤ 0.40 (walls ≥ 45 mm) | Unchanged | None |
| Refrigerated A–D | Same values | Unchanged | None |
| Mechanically refrigerated A–F | Same values | Unchanged | None |
| In force from | Note |
|---|---|
| 2026-08-25 | Latest edition listed by UNECE as at 26 October 2026 — not yet compared line by line |
| 2024-06-22 | Edition used for every ATP figure published on this site |
| 2022-06-01 | With corrigendum ECE/TRANS/322/Corr.1 |
| 2020-07-06 | — |
| 2014-11-13 | Heated equipment had classes A and B only |
Because the 2026 edition has not been compared clause by clause, we do not claim that the figures above are the newest in existence. We claim only that they are correct for the edition named — and we date them so you can see when that was checked.
ISO 31511:2024 is a delivery-service standard, not a vehicle standard
It is sometimes quoted on refrigerated-vehicle pages as evidence of technical capability. That reading is wrong, and using it that way makes a page less credible, not more.
ISO 31511:2024, published on 8 November 2024, specifies requirements for contactless delivery services in cold-chain logistics — the service between a distribution centre and a recipient. It was developed by ISO/TC 315 and it is a service standard. It says nothing about vehicle construction, insulation performance, refrigeration capacity or body testing. It is not evidence of how well a truck is built, and we do not use it as such.
What was left out, and why
Every omission below is deliberate. Four of them are standards that appear on other supplier sites as if confirmed.
Where these standards land on a vehicle
If a tender quotes a standard, send us the clause
Tender documents often cite an edition that has been withdrawn, or mix a 2023 number with a 2013 title. Send us the clause and we will tell you which edition it actually refers to — before you price the job.
Ask which standard applies to your tender. We answer from the dated table on this page, and we say when we do not know.
Ask about a standardSources and verification. GB 29753-2023 and GB 29753-2013 status, publication and implementation dates per the China national standards full-text database (openstd.samr.gov.cn, retrieved 2026-10-26), cross-checked against the SAMR standards portal. ATP Annex 1 per the UNECE text as amended 22 June 2024 and 13 November 2014, and the UNECE ATP Handbook 2016/2021/2023. ATP edition list per the UNECE status page. ISO 31511:2024 per iso.org. Leisure-vehicle standards per openstd.samr.gov.cn, verified 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.