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Article 21: When special equipment leaves the factory, it shall be accompanied by relevant technical materials and documents such as design documents required by safety technical specifications, product quality certification, instructions for installation, use, and maintenance, as well as inspection certificates. In addition, product nameplates, safety warning signs, and their corresponding instructions shall be installed in prominent locations on the special equipment. Interpretation of the provision: This article stipulates that, when special equipment leaves the factory, it must be accompanied by the relevant materials and documents required by safety technical standards, as well as product nameplates, safety warning signs, and their accompanying instructions. I. Purpose of providing technical data and documents: The design and manufacturing of special equipment have a significant impact on its quality. Determining whether the quality of such design and manufacturing meets safety requirements relies entirely on the relevant technical data and documents specified above; these serve as important bases for users and safety supervision authorities to assess whether the design and manufacturing quality is satisfactory. II. Contents to be included in various technical materials and documents: Design documents refer to design drawings and calculation sheets. A product qualification certificate refers to the documentation that details the quality of materials and components as well as the key performance indicators of the product, along with inspection data and the final design drawings of the product. Such certification documents must be signed by the person in charge of quality at the manufacturing enterprise. The installation, use, and maintenance instructions provide guidance on the matters that installation, maintenance, and usage units should pay attention to when installing, using, and maintaining special equipment, in order to avoid quality issues resulting from improper installation or maintenance, or accidents caused by improper use. These aspects should be taken into consideration during the design and manufacturing phases. A supervision inspection certificate refers to a document issued by a special equipment inspection and testing institution approved by the state council’s department responsible for the safety supervision and management of special equipment, after conducting supervision inspections during the manufacturing process; such certificates are issued for products that meet the relevant safety technical specifications and standards. Special equipment that requires supervision inspection during manufacturing is specified in detail in Article 25, while those that do not require such inspection need not have a supervision inspection certificate issued. III. Provision of technical data and documents Some of the aforementioned technical data and documents are prepared by the design agencies, but manufacturing enterprises must obtain the design documents before commencing production and manufacture in accordance with those documents. Others are prepared entirely by the manufacturing enterprises themselves; therefore, manufacturing units of special equipment are in a position to provide such documents to prove that the quality of their products meets the safety requirements. This law imposes this obligation on manufacturing units, which should provide these documents along with the products when they leave the factory. For those that fail to provide the aforementioned documents, the safety supervision and management authorities shall prohibit the use of the equipment at the time of registration and impose penalties in accordance with Article 77. IV. Installation of product nameplates: A product nameplate for special equipment refers to a plate that is attached to the product after it is released onto the market, and which provides users, inspection agencies, etc. with information about the manufacturing company, the basic technical parameters of the product, and details related to its production. The specific details are clearly defined in the relevant safety technical specifications. The purpose of this is, on one hand, to enable users of the product to understand its basic information and use it correctly so as not to damage the equipment. On the other hand, as an identifier for the product, it is the product’s brief instruction manual. Under normal circumstances, the nameplates of special equipment are made of metallic materials and are mounted directly on the equipment itself or on adjacent auxiliary devices. V. Installation of safety warning signs and their instructions Safety warning signs serve as carriers for conveying safety information; they are generally placed on the surface of special equipment or in its vicinity, with the aim of reminding people to pay attention to safety, preventing hazards, and maintaining a safe working environment. Special equipment is widespread in quantity and poses a high degree of risk, as it is directly related to people’s lives and safety. For example, the media contained within pressure-bearing equipment may be flammable, explosive, toxic, or harmful; lifting equipment risks losing its load during lifting operations. All these factors require that users of such equipment as well as workers in the vicinity be warned. For example, GB 2894 “Safety signs and guidelines for their use” stipulates the principles regarding the signs that convey safety information, as well as their installation and use, in places such as public areas and industrial enterprises where it is necessary to alert people to potential hazards. For some special equipment, especially mechanical and electrical special devices such as elevators and lifting machinery, safety warning signs are also placed at the operation locations to remind or assist operators in carrying out operations safely.