(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-13 07:12

China Wednesday agreed to take immediate action to ban the use of leaded paint in toys exported to the US after a spate of recalls created a scare among American parents ahead of Christmas shopping.

Under the agreement reached at the second US-China summit on consumer product safety in the US, Beijing will devise a comprehensive plan immediately to ensure that exports comply with US laws, which ban the use of leaded paint in toys, and China's regulations too prohibit its use.

The two sides also agreed to fully cooperate in quality inspections of fireworks, cigarette lighters and electrical products exported to the US.

"The Chinese government agrees to coordinate plans to guarantee the safety and health standards of the products exported to the US," said Wei Chuanzhong, vice-minister of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and head of the Chinese delegation.

"We believe the measures will enable China's products to reach a higher quality level in the near future," he said.

US Consumer Product Safety Commission's acting chairman Nancy Nord said two days of talks with her Chinese counterpart shows China is serious about keeping hazardous products out of the market.

She said the two sides also agreed to hold regular product safety talks, including monthly discussions on recalls and trends.

China has become the center of the world's toy-making industry, exporting $7.05 billion worth of toys last year that accounted for nearly 87 percent of the toys imported by the US, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

But questions on the quality of Chinese toys, food products and other exports have increased in recent months, especially after a string of product recalls and import bans. Mattel Inc, the largest US toy company, recalled China-made products thrice this summer because of unsafe levels of lead or magnets that could detach easily.

But Chinese products in general are of reliable quality, Wei said, even though some toys have been recalled in the US. In fact, an overwhelming majority of those products had design flaws for which US companies were responsible, he said.

A research paper, soon to be released by two Canadian business professors, shows about 80 percent of the 550 toy recalls in the US in recent years were because of design faults instead of manufacturing defects.

"Certainly, some of the problems are made in China, but our analysis on at least toy recalls suggests that the majority of the problems originated on the other side," CanWest News Service quoted University of Western Ontario business professor and report co-author Paul Beamish as saying. "If we're going to point fingers, point them in the right direction."

AQSIQ Minister Li Changjiang said in Beijing yesterday that a considerable number of products were recalled in the US because of "different national standards". The two countries need to cooperate to devise common standards for all such the products.

The minister assured American parents that China-made toys are safe and can be given as Christmas gifts. "Before Christmas, we will certainly provide children safer, better and more attractive toys. They will certainly like them," Li said.