BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of
Commerce will help related departments implement measures to ensure the quality
and safety of China-made toys, said a spokesman with the ministry on Thursday.
The measures include enhancing self-discipline and
supervision of the toy industry, helping local authorities train manufacturers
to improve management over product quality, and strengthening international
cooperation and information exchange on toy production, spokesman Wang Xinpei
said.
Wang said most toys made in China were produced in
accordance with importers' designs, techniques and quality criteria. Some
problematic toys uncovered recently stemmed from poor quality management in the
production process and slack supervision by importers and traders as well.
A spokesman for China's General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said late last week that the
United States importers and brand owners should take responsibility for recalled
toys.
To prevent loopholes in quality control, overseas
brand owners should improve their product design and supervision over product
quality, the spokesman said.
The U.S. product quality watchdog filed 29 recall
cases involving toys made in China last year.
A recall case filed by U.S. RC2 Corp. and CPSC last
month involved toy trains made by a Guangdong-based company which used paint
containing lead poisonous to children.
On Aug. 2, another toy company, Fisher-Price, also
recalled more than one million character toys with unqualified paint. The
producer's paint provider made the paint using fake materials.
China's quality control department has suspended the
export of the problematic toys, while the police have launched an investigation
into the case.
China exported more than seven billion U.S. dollars
worth of toys last year, a growth of 7.5 percent over the previous year. The
total included 300,000 batches of toys sold to the United States.