The EU and China have signed a deal to improve consumer safety, with China agreeing to inform the European Union about what it is doing to track down dangerous goods which are exported or destined for export. China is the world’s biggest toy exporter, for instance, with total sales of 60 billion toys in 2006, amounting to 60 percent of the world market. EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva: “We remain demanding, we remain vigilant, the same as the Chinese authorities, because the market is still not what we expect to deliver on the safety side.”

Kuneva held a three-way meeting in Brussels, the first of its kind on product safety, with the head of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission Nancy Nord and Wei Chuanzhong, vice-minister in China’s quality control body AQSIQ. Wei said: “At the conception level, companies (placing orders) must act in close consultation with the manufacturers, to ensure they respect standards.” In September, China’s prime minister vowed to ensure the ‘Made in China’ brand was safe.More about: China, European Union

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