EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva will travel
to China next week for closer cooperation on consumer product
safety, her spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Helen Kearns told reporters that it is both in Europe's and in
China's interests to improve cooperation on consumer product
safety, while stressing the safety issue is not for compromise from
the EU's perspective.
Kearns said Kuneva's visit is intended to ensure the current
cooperation framework is functioning well, but she downplayed the
possibility of any new deal to be signed.
The EU and China signed a memorandum of understanding on
cooperation for consumer goods safety last January, which provides
the basis for bilateral cooperation in this field.
Since 2006, the EU has been relaying information to China of
unsafe products of Chinese origin which were reported on the
European market under the bloc's alert system.
The EU wants China to use the information to take corrective
action at the source, addressing the responsible manufacturer
directly, it said.
John Bell, Kuneva's cabinet chief, said in addition, the EU and
China last October entered a roadmap for safer toys, which is the
largest part of China's unsafe products identified in Europe.
And the EU is also providing training for Chinese officials and
manufacturers, helping them to better understand the 27-nation
bloc's technical standards, which were sometimes criticized by
developing countries as trade barriers.
An EU report said last year nearly half of the reported unsafe
products originated from China. A large proportion of these
products were toys and electrical appliances.
Bell said part of the reason is the high volume of imports into
the EU from China.
Thanks to the bilateral cooperation, there is no indication of
growing tide of China's unsafe products, he added.
During her five-day visit, Kuneva will meet relevant Chinese
officials and representatives from industry and consumer groups.
She will visit a toy factory as well as the national laboratory for
toy testing in Yangzhou of Jiangsu province.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2007)
