Before its election, US congress will probably approve two acts concerning toys. Related regulations might be launched in 6 months, for the sake of stricter requirement for entering US market. It covers ban on lead and mandatory third party certification, reviews Richard O’Brien, Director of Office of International Programs and Intergovernmental Affairs, CPSC in 2007 US-China Toy Safety Conference, November 15th. At the same time, he expects that, China’s toy makers should be closely attentive to latest state of affairs.

     US-China Toy Safety Conference is a high-level summit. On July 18th, U.S. had held a similar conference in Guangzhou. Within a short period of 4 months, a persuasive cast attends the new meeting.

     When studying into the speech of U.S. representatives, I have found something interesting.

     Firstly, time and again, Richard O’Brien emphasizes that, recalls since this June are announced according to companies’ own demands. He explains that, successive recalls of China’s toy products are not casual decision made by CPSC after certain hazard appears. In fact, only a part of recalls is discovered by CPSC when carrying out market supervision. A large majority of them are reported by companies themselves voluntarily, like Mattel. Then, based on assessment and inspection result, CPSC determines whether to announce final recall or not. What CPSC does is only a procedural work. In U.S., products that recalled in an initiative way would cause less lost to concerning company than passive recall after any safety problem emerges.

    O’Brien is very patient in delivering his explanation. Apparently, he expects that, Chinese companies will not misinterpret recalls as CPSC’s prejudice or discrimination against toys made in China.

    Secondly, it is a reminder for China’s toy makers’ precaution. O’Brien indicates that, currently some Congress members are paying extremely attention to toys. Before a new election for president, two acts concerning toys would probably be dished out, coming with related regulation in the following 6 months. Greater restriction on toy imported to U.S. would be set. One is about lead contained in toys and the other is mandatory certification through third party testing. Furthermore, there would be greater penalty on toys with safety or quality problems. The Senate suggests that, the highest fine should be $10,000,000, instead of the original $1,250,000. House of Representatives even stands for $100,000,000.

     Product label would be required to have more definite description, for the sake of tracing record.

      I have such an impression: U.S. politician would pick a hole on the affair. O’Brien tries to arouse China’s toy makers’ attention. Early preparation should be made on quality control, so as to reduce risk to lowest level.

      Thirdly, U.S. representatives are actually trying to show their kindness to China’s makers. After his onscene investigation, Carter Keithley, president of Toy Industry Association (TIA) expresses his good impression on the notion of “made in China”. He says that, in order to propel American toy consumption before Christmas, Chinese government has done lots of works on strengthening inspection.

      On the other hand, Keithley tells attendees what effort TIA has made after recalling announced, which are to eliminate unfavorable influence on consumers. Meanwhile, feeling for China’s toy makers, he makes suggestion on how to avoid risk for production.

      O’Brien also expresses compassion to China’s toy makers. He believes that, if there were a unified international standard, lots of problems could have been solved. Unfortunately, we do not have such a standard. China’s toy makers have to face a tough problem results from different inspection standards in domestic and overseas market. But since cost for recall is much higher than that for inspection, it is necessary to undertake testing procedure during production process. O’Brien holds that, in the future, U.S. importers might not run the risk on purchasing with low price point.

      Pondering their speeches, I feel that, they trust in quality of China’s toys and expect better cooperation in the days to come. Furthermore, there is room for raising price. In fact, O’Brien declares that, importers should assume the major responsibility for recalls of China’s toys during these few weeks, for they are familiar with safety standards, as well as reporting and inspecting procedure in U.S. Technical experts from U.S. are invited to the conference to explain and analyze details of new toy standard in the country. It is American side’s expectation to see improvement on manufacture and quality inspection of China’s toy makers. █