Chinese and European Union (EU) quality control officials
yesterday agreed to share more information on seizures of
substandard consumer products and strengthen law enforcement to
better combat unsafe goods.
The two sides will have to thrash out the details of the action
plan.
For now, safety watchdogs from the two sides will exchange more
information on unsafe products in the EU rapid alert system for
non-food products, known as RAPEX, to help them better select
targets for enforcement.
China has promised to take more rigorous action against
companies found guilty of making substandard products, according to
the country's General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).
The agreement is the latest between China and the EU, AQSIQ
Minister Li Changjiang said after he met with the visiting EU
Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva in Beijing
yesterday. But officials gave no further details.
The two sides signed a cooperation agreement in January giving
China access to RAPEX. The Chinese side agreed to help track down
the Chinese culprits who supplied substandard products to the
EU.
China has also vowed to crack down on substandard product makers
in general.
Under RAPEX, about 48 percent of the 924 products identified as
unsafe for the EU market last year were from China, down 2
percentage points than the previous year.
Commissioner Kuneva said she had seen China improve its handling
of products, but the EU wanted Beijing to help avoid consumer
safety firestorms by tracing more complaints down the trade chain
to the factory floor.
"Yes, there is an improvement but also it's equally valid that
there is need of the reforms to be stepped up on the market and on
market surveillance," she said.
Minister Li acknowledged that the safety of Chinese products had
been in the global spotlight recently. But he said product safety
was not only China's concern, but also the common responsibility of
all countries.
AQSIQ figures show that in the first half of this year, 98.8
percent of the food products from the EU were up to standard, 1
percentage point less than the equivalent figure for Chinese food
exports to the EU.
Also, about 1.1 percent of the food products from Japan to China
in the first six months were not up to standard.
Last week, the AQSIQ issued a warning and asked for tighter
control over aquatic products from Japan after infective anisakis
worms, a genus of parasitic nematodes, was found in two types of
fish from the country. The worms can cause violent abdominal pain,
nausea and vomiting within hours after ingestion.
Today, Kuneva will meet with senior officials of the State
Administration of Industry and Commerce, and head for East China's
Jiangsu Province to visit toy factories and test centers to see how
Chinese surveillance works.
(China Daily July 24, 2007)