Top players committed to toy safety (hktdc.com)


	High level industry authorities discussed toy safety issues at the Product Safety Forum organised by HKTDC

	Jeffrey Lam, Chairman of HKTDC's Toys Advisory Committee

Overseas buyers and manufacturers both have a shared responsibility to ensure products are safe, a Hong Kong toys industry chief said on the issue of toy recalls at a recent Product Safety Forum organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).

Jeffrey Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC Toys Advisory Committee, said that Hong Kong toy-makers have the requisite knowledge of toy safety regulations and that they take safety and quality very seriously.

"But then all of a sudden, this (made-in-China) label was taken as ‘harmful' and their exported toys were described as poison apples," he said.

Mr Lam said there could be a few "rotten apples in the toy industry" but stressed that Hong Kong manufacturers have a great sense of social responsibility. Chinese toy manufacturers have also been proactive in making improvements to ensure that products are up to standard. At the end of the day, Mr Lam said product safety is a shared responsibility. "We shouldn't only rely on one person to do all the work. Everyone involved has to take responsibility."

Buck stops

Mr Lam's remarks are set against a tough environment faced by Hong Kong toymakers on their manufacturing bases in the Chinese mainland. The cost of production over the past two years had risen sharply due to price increases in raw materials, the appreciation of the Chinese yuan, rising labour and utility costs and low outsourcing prices.

"Who is going to take responsibility for the increased cost?" asked Mr Lam in a phone interview with The Associated Press as reported in The International Herald Tribune. "This is what I view as shared responsibility."

Carter Keithley, President of the US Toy Industry Association, in a recorded video for the forum, said that recent recalls of millions of playthings reflected the failure of the country's toy safety checks. "Our toy safety standards were excellent, as they had been for years, but it was the toy safety testing and inspection process that had failed us."

Mr Keithley said a programme recently put in place by the US industry to repair safety testing and inspection processes was not a quick fix to solve a "China problem" as it covers all countries. "This programme covers all countries of manufacture including the US, Canada and Europe. Any toy imported into the US from any country will be required to pass through this system.

"The steps we are taking are intended not only to reassure American consumers that the toys they buy are safe, but also to reassure them specifically that toys made in China are safe," he added.

Hong Kong's leading role

Mr Keithley said the US Toy Industry Association would ensure that its manufacturing partners understand what is required and when they will be asked to apply the new testing standards. "We will be providing information regularly through the Hong Kong Toys Council and China Toy Association and also through the brands which work with you (the manufacturer)."

Since August, Mattel Inc, the world's largest toymaker, has recalled 18 million Chinese-made products worldwide including the ever popular Barbie doll following fears over high lead levels and small magnets that have seriously injured some children. The toymaker has recently admitted that the vast majority of products recalled was the result of a flaw in its design and said it was still committed to manufacturing on the mainland.

China is the world's top toy exporter, selling 22 billion toys overseas last year or 60 per cent of the world's total.