
Methods to check the national emission standard for a new car are: 1. Check the vehicle conformity certificate. The vehicle comes with a conformity certificate upon delivery, which clearly states the emission standard of the vehicle; 2. Look for the vehicle's packing list, where the emission standard can be found in the vehicle information section; 3. Check the certificate of conformity, which includes exhaust emissions and indicates the corresponding emission standard; 4. Visit the official website of the vehicle environmental protection department, find the public query platform at the bottom of the homepage, enter the vehicle's VIN code and the last 6 digits of the engine number to check; 5. Inspect the vehicle's environmental protection label. The back of the environmental protection label on the front windshield of the car clearly indicates the vehicle's emission standard.

Last week when I accompanied my friend to pick up his new car, I specifically taught him how to check this. Just look for the environmental protection label in the corner of the windshield—that yellow sticker clearly states which national emission standard it meets. The metal nameplate in the engine bay also has this information; look for codes labeled 'Emission Standard' or starting with 'GB.' Nowadays, the 'Vehicle Conformity Certificate' provided by the dealership lists the emission level in item 15. By the way, the invoice and the certificate of conformity also have small print notes about it, though they’re easy to overlook. For China 6 vehicles, there are even sub-phases 'a' and 'b'—if the nameplate says GB18352.6-2016, it means it’s China 6b.

I remember specifically researching this issue when I bought my car two years ago. The safest way is to check the 'Environmental Information Vehicle List' in the vehicle documents - it's clearly marked in bold at the top of the second page. You can also scan the QR code on the list to jump to the official website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment for verification. If you've lost the documents, don't panic - just log in to the 'Motor Vehicle Environmental Protection Website' on your phone and enter the last eight digits of the VIN to check. Actually, all 4S stores have this record in their systems, so remember to ask the salesperson to handwrite the emission standard in the contract when purchasing the car.

Here's a simple method: Pay attention to the yellow environmental labels on the dashboard or door frame of new cars. The China 5 standard is labeled 'GB18352.5', and the China 6 standard is labeled 'GB18352.6'. Don't rush to put away the 'Vehicle Conformity Certificate' in the glove box of the passenger seat; flip to the emission-related section. Now you can also check via mobile mini-programs. Search for 'Public Vehicle Inspection' on WeChat, take a photo of the VIN, and upload it. Querying on the environmental protection website may require the last six digits of the engine number.


