Guidelines for the ethical review of laboratory animal welfare People's Republic of China National Standard GB/T 35892-2018 [Issued 6 February 2018 Effective from 1 September 2018].

These Chinese National Guidelines (GB/T 35892-20181) were issued February 06, 2018 and became effective September 01, 2018. The authors recognized the urgent need for an authentic English translation to inform the international community of the compliance requirements in China. It was appreciated that the final translation must reflect the specialist understanding of those working under the Guideline whilst remaining faithful to the meaning of the original Chinese text. A three-step translation process was therefore determined. Step 1: A professional interpretation service (KL Communications, UK) was commissioned to prepare a literal translation of the Chinese text. Supportive documents were provided which explained specialist terminology. This translation was checked by two bilingual experts. Step 2: A workshop was held in Nanjing in May 2019 to which were invited experts in laboratory animal welfare and ethical use. These included international native English-speaking and Chinese-speaking delegates. The delegates worked in multi-lingual teams to review sections of the literal translation ahead of the workshop, and to agree an authentic interpretation during the workshop. Step 3: Following the workshop, three bilingual experts (two native Chinese speakers and one native English speaker) reviewed the entire document to ensure consistency of terminology and general accuracy. This document is thus not a "literal translation" but an "accurate interpretation" of the original text. Any challenge of work being performed under these Guidelines should rely on the Chinese text in the first place. However, this translation may be used as mitigating evidence, especially where those performing the work are non-Chinese speakers.