A new regulation on the recall of faulty cars and other automobiles
will be unveiled in the New Year, a senior quality supervision
official said yesterday.
The regulation will incorporate feedback from customers and
automakers to a draft version of the regulation published in
October.
"Around 99 percent of customers warmly applauded the recall
regulation," said Liu Zhaobin, director of the Regulation
Department under the State General Administration for Quality
Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine.
Most auto makers agreed that the new regulation will further
standardize China's auto industry, he said.
The official, who drafted the recall regulation, said a team of
experts had been discussing and supervising the composition of the
regulation on recalling faulty automobiles over the past 10
months.
Chinese consumers have long complained that global automobile
giants such as Daimler-Chrysler and Honda have excluded China when
recalling defective products from overseas markets.
The major reason why Chinese consumers are treated differently from
foreign counterparts is that China has no laws or regulations
related to the recall of defective vehicles.
Jia Xinguang, a senior analyst at the China Automobile Industry
Consulting and Development Corp, said: "All faulty vehicles,
irrespective of whether they are imported or manufactured locally,
must be recalled by auto makers for the sake of consumers."
Jia said it was imperative to develop a recall system and local
auto makers should be treated equally if they had similar
problems.
Wang Chuming, a lawyer at Beijing-based law firm GH and Partners,
said the regulations will help eliminate potential dangers in
automobiles, but the regulations still needed improving.
(China Daily December 24, 2002)