The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said Monday in Beijing that it will establish its first overseas office in China in an effort to step up cooperation between the two countries in goods quality and safety.
"It is very important that we maintain a good relationship with the AQSIQ (China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine), as well as have a proactive approach in working with the Chinese government and Chinese manufacturers," CPSC chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum told reporters at a press briefing at the US embassy, noting that 45 percent of all consumer products and 90 percent of all toys sold in the US come from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.
As an independent agency of the US government, the CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks from consumer products, such as toys, cribs, power tools and household chemicals.
Tenenbaum said the CPSC's Beijing office won't be testing or certifying Chinese products - that job will be done by a third-party laboratory. "The office will work with the AQSIQ to be a resource to Chinese manufacturers in terms of our standards and requirements and go to the provinces to ensure that they understand our requirements."
Tenenbaum said she hopes cooperation between China and the US will be a "proactive" and "preventative" rather than simply rely on re-calls.
The chairperson stressed that setting up such an office in China does not mean that the US is showing more concern about the safety of Chinese products, as the CPSC has seen big progress made in the quality of goods imported from China.
"We are seeing improvements in terms of the number of Chinese products recalled," the CPSC chief told reporters, noting that the number of product recalls coming out of China dropped from 346 in 2008 to 220 in 2010, and from 172 to 44 in terms of toys.
In an earlier effort to ratchet up product-safety cooperation, the CPSC in 2009 established an office to educate and train Chinese manufacturers on proper US product safety standards.
Besides the Chinese mainland, Tenenbaum will also travel to Hong Kong and Australia, where she is expected to sign a memorandum of agreement with local officials.
