US and Chinese officials on Tuesday announced an agreement aimed
at strengthening cooperation and improving safety of consumer
products.
Under the agreement reached at a two-day meeting on safety of
consumer products, both the US Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) agreed to carry out full
cooperation in quality inspections in four categories: toys,
fireworks, cigarette lighters and electrical products, which are
exported to the United States.
The AQSIQ will strengthen their inspections on the exported
products and assist the CPSC in tracing hazardous products.
Under the agreement, the two agencies will review the plans'
effectiveness in one year to identify possible areas for deepening
cooperation.
AQSIQ deputy chief Wei Chuanzhong said after the talks that
China has taken a series of measures to improve quality of
products.
"The Chinese government agrees to coordinate plans to guarantee
the health and safety standards of the products, including toys,
exported to the US," Wei said.
"We believe those measures will enable China's products to
attain higher quality in the near future," he said.
The Chinese official pointed out that although some toys
recalled in the US could have quality and safety problems, the bulk
of the Chinese products exported to the United States were of
reliable quality. Even among those products recalled in the US, the
overwhelming majority were found to have come from flaws of
designing by the US side.
In addition, a considerable amount of products recalled in the
US were due to "a large gap in standards between our two
countries."
Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the CPSC, said that the US side
was convinced that the Chinese government was serious about
improving the safety of consumer products through the two days of
talks.
"We will be looking for meaningful cooperation on the ground --
that means not just with the Chinese government, but also with
industry at both ends of the supply chain," Nord added.
This is the second meeting between China and the United States
on safety of consumer products. The first meeting was held in
Beijing in 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2007)
