Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The European Union is closely monitoring the quality of Chinese goods entering its territory, but so far China has not done much to solve the problems.
For EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva Europe’s position has not changed. “Europe is for open trade [. . .] we'd like to cooperate strongly with China, [. . .] we'd like to do business with China,” Ms Kuneva said, but insisted that the EU needed stronger guarantees that products are safe.
After talks with Li Changjiang, head of China's national quality watchdog, Commissioner Kuneva said she was only partially satisfied.
“Starting from a low level before, now we have enhanced so much this cooperation that almost all of our notifications sent to China are tracked down," she said.
The mainland to date has revoked export licences from 700 toy firms over safety failings.
But for Kuneva traceability still had to be improved to prevent large companies from relying on the low end of the market in terms of goods and suppliers.
Toys, electrical goods, cosmetics and bike tires are still under tight scrutiny.
China’s quality controls are different from in the West and in the past proved to be inadequate or non-existent in the case of many export goods.
Kuneva last year threatened to ban imports from China if the country did not act more aggressively against makers of substandard or even toxic products.
China was involved in a series of scares over the safety of its manufactured products, including food products, toothpaste and toys.