Calls for Quality

The recall of 18 million Chinese-made products by US toy giant Mattel because of safety concerns has led to Germany launching its own initiative against defective and dangerous products.

The German economics ministry announced Thursday that it planned to host a round-table discussion on the subject on August 30 with manufacturers, industry groups, consumer protection organizations and the 16 regional states.

While acknowledging that the European Union sets high standards for product quality, the ministry’s statement called for more to be done to and suggested a quality seal verifying products are safe.

"Labelling to indicate the quality (of a product) is in the most basic interest of the German economy," the ministry said.

"German products in particular but also European products with high quality standards must compete on the market every day against much more cheaply produced products -- for example from Asia."

Product scandal rumbles on

The slogan "Made in China" has suffered enormous image damage in recent months. Hardly a day goes by without criticism about the dangers to which Chinese-made products might expose consumers.

The scandals of recent weeks revolving around the safety of Chinese-manufactured goods and even food reached a pinnacle when the concerns moved into children's rooms with scares over Polly Pocket, Batman and Barbie dolls.

Previously, the chemical melamine in Chinese wheat-gluten exports used in pet food were blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats in the United States. This was followed by headlines about contaminated seafood and fruit, and poisonous industrial diethylene glycol in cough syrups and toothpaste. Additionally, Chinese cars exported abroad fared terribly in crash tests in Germany and Russia.

While the US has been sounding the alarm for weeks, the reactions of European consumers remained relatively muffled until Mattel started recalling millions of toys this month.

The company announced that tests found dangerously high lead content in the lacquer of its toys and that attached magnets came loose easily and could be swallowed by small children.

Those discoveries woke up the Europeans, while for the Chinese a lot is now on the gaming board.

The hurried reaction of Beijing's trade ministry was to declare that the problem had been blown out of proportion, but to also pledge to spare no effort to ensure the safety of Chinese export goods.

Low standards ignored for cheap goods

But the toy scandal also raised questions about Mattel's responsibility as well as the usual networks of subcontractors, middlemen and factories in China, where workers toil for extremely low wages in often hazardous conditions.

By producing in China, companies can maximize their profit margins, while consumers in Western countries are either unaware of or choose to ignore the miserable working conditions as they have come to expect low prices for products such as DVD players, personal computers, textiles and shoes.

China's government, meanwhile, concedes that black sheep do exist among local manufacturers, but insists that foreign companies had a responsibility for monitoring the quality of their products too.

This is because Barbie or Batman dolls, for example, were not marketed in Europe and the US by Chinese companies but under the renowned brand "Mattel," which traditionally stood for quality and safety.

Meanwhile, the country's toy-manufacturing industry has expressed embarrassment over the scandal and fears losing future business.

"We feel deep sorrow over the irresponsible attitude of some companies," said the industry association in a statement and added that it would assume responsibility for improving quality standards. "We must use this lesson as an opportunity to raise management standards," the statement said.

Firms should refrain from accepting orders that are "low priced and with unclear quality requirements" or which exceeded their manufacturing capacities.

EU, China trade accusations and admonishments

More often than not, European reports to the Chinese about certain unsafe products are simply ignored, which recently prompted the EU commissioner for consumer protection, Meglena Kuneva, to admonish Beijing that "more has to be done (to ensure the safety of locally manufactured goods destined for export)."

Earlier this week, China claimed that the EU was using concerns over Chinese export standards as a form of protectionism, a claim that Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, dismissed as "totally false."

"As trade commissioner, I will not accept claims of toxicity being used as a pretext for protectionism. Equally, I will give firm backing to European companies having to reject goods that are dangerous to consumers," he added

China already has to deal with more than enough trouble domestically through contaminated food, counterfeit medicines or products which do not comply with required quality standards of local markets.

Increasing concern among the general population and fear of social instability has prompted the government to order state-run media to refrain from publishing product-quality news. Because of the ban, the average Chinese citizen doesn't know about the recent toy scandal or complaints about the low safety standards of exported goods.