[Comparison of national standard GB/T 31774 and international standard ISO 18668 for Chinese medicines coding system]

Coding rules for Chinese medicines and their codes (GB/T 31774-2015) was issued by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) and Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China (SAC) in 2015. Coding system for Chinese medicines (ISO 18668-1, 2, 3 and 4) series were issued one after another by International Organization for Standardization in 2016 and 2017. In this paper, the comparative study on the GB/T 31774 and ISO 18668-1, 2, 3 to 4 would be conducted to expound the similarities and differences among them. This essay aims at promoting the application of national and international standards of coding system in production and operation enterprises and the medical institutions of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), reducing their repetitive investment to meet the Chinese medicine import and export trade requirement in future. Moreover, it provides the cornerstone and support for TCM standardization, and makes Chinese medicines standard gain dominance in field of international TCM standards, occupying the high ground of international market in the traditional medicine field of the world. It may promote the "Internet + TCM service" in our country, and let the Chinese medicine industry go out of the country and into the world to contribute to human health.