The chairman of one of the world's largest toy companies has urged regulators to adopt common global safety standards as the toy industry seeks to recover from recent product safety scares.

The US, EU and other jurisdictions enforce unique safety regimes that can force toy companies and their suppliers, most of whom are based in China, to adopt different testing and even manufacturing procedures for each destination market. Standards can vary between states within the US.

"Why can't we have one mandatory global safety standard for toys?" Alan Hassenfeld, chairman of the US-based Hasbro toy company, said in an interview with the Financial Times. "If we had one standard for the entire world everyone would cheer because we're so confused [by the competing standards] and it's a huge cost." █