It is safe for European parents to buy Chinese-made toys for
Christmas despite a spate of recall dramas involving Chinese
products earlier this year, head of the European Union (EU) toy
industry said.
Xinhua correspondents interviewed Bryan Ellis, chairman of Toy
Industries Europe, at a time when there are widespread fears of low
consumer confidence in Chinese-made toys in the run-up to the
Christmas selling season after more than 20 million Chinese-made
toys were recalled in the last four months for their allegedly
excessive lead paint and unsafe magnets.
"My view is that if you buy good brands and from reputable
retailers, it is safe to buy Chinese products as it is to buy any
other products," said Ellis, whose institution includes global
leading toy makers Mattel, Hasbro and Hornby.
Ellis said after the massive recalls, the EU toy industry still
holds confidence in Chinese manufacturers due to their long-time
cooperation and the Chinese manufacturers' expertise.
"Most people in the toy industry have a good confidence in
Chinese manufacturers. We build expertise in this area for more
than twenty years," he said, adding that as far as he knew, no EU
companies have ever cancelled orders due to the recalls.
China is now the world's largest toy producer, but most of its
products are outsourced by foreign brand owners. It exported 22
billion toys last year, about 60 percent of the world's total and
roughly 75 percent of the toys sold in Europe are made in China,
Ellis said.
As a frequent visitor to Hong Kong in the past 20 years working
for various toy retailers, Ellis said he has been doing business
with Chinese manufacturers for a long time, which gives him
enormous confidence in their expertise.
"In fact, probably because of the expertise Chinese
manufacturers get, it is safer to buy Chinese products than any
other products," he added.
The EU toy industry chief also appeared largely optimistic about
the sales ahead.
"The evidence of sales around Europe still shows a strong
trend," he said, adding that "I won't be surprised if sales in
Europe goes up by five percent this year," a reasonable increase
compared to the past years.
"My impression is that the recalls have very little impact, if
any, on consumers," he added.
Ellis said toy sales in the Untied States may be flat this year,
but it probably has much to do with the economic slowdown, rather
than product safety reasons.
Ellis' optimism was supported by the latest statistics from the
Chinese authorities, which said orders for Chinese toys were on the
rise in the run-up to Christmas.
According to the Customs authorities in southern China's
Guangdong Province, which manufactures about 70 percent of the
total Chinese toys made for exports, the value of toys exported by
Guangdong slipped by 5.4 percent in September compared to the same
period last year, but it regained strength to register a
year-on-year increase of 27.6 percent in October.
In their response to the toy recalls, the Chinese authorities
have made great efforts to improve the quality of its exported
products. In Guangdong, 423 toy makers were deprived of their
production licenses and 341 toy companies' operation was suspended
for failure to observe toy safety rules.
EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said last
week China has made considerable progress in taking actions to
ensure safety of toys exported to Europe.
Ellis said China's recent efforts were just in time to help
regain confidence from consumers. He also acknowledged that there
was also media exaggeration behind the toy recall dramas.
"It's rare to have large number of toys involved. But if you
have been in the industry, you do have recalls from time to time.
It's not desirable, but almost inevitable," he said.
When the Chinese-made toys were dubbed "toxic" and "dangerous"
by the media, Ellis said it may present an exaggerated bad picture
to the consumers.
"I think one of the things we got to understand in the industry
and we get to make the public understand is there is difference
between toys that infringe the regulations and something that is
intrinsically unsafe or dangerous," he said.
As to what should be done next, Ellis said first of all, the
Chinese government and the EU authorities need to work harder on
rule enforcement, rather than an overhaul of the existing safety
rules. But he agreed that there should be some minor changes to the
current rules.
"The consensus broadly is the current level of regulations, both
in China and in Europe, is satisfactory. The issues, if there are
any issues, are with enforcement," he said.
At the same time, the EU toy industry chief said there should be
a global approach to the toy safety issue.
He said the EU and the United States are trying to devise a
global procedure for checking the safety processes, which have been
properly completed, possibly through an international organization
that will group national regulators, which he hopes China will also
join.
"We have to get a global standard. It is not good business for
people to have to manufacture under a series of standards," he
said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)
