EU presses China on safety of exports to the bloc

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday September 19, 2006

Brussels- China must improve the safety of consumer goods it exports to the 25-member European Union and fight illegal exports of food to the bloc, the EU's consumer protection chief said Tuesday. "Nearly half of the dangerous consumer products detected in the EU, especially toys, are imported from China," EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said. "This has to change."

Kyprianou and Chinese supervision and inspection minister Li Changjiang signed an agreement Tuesday that aims at improving the safety of toys entering the EU.

Both sides also agreed on a deal to curb the export of illegal food products into the EU.

"Illegal exports of food to the EU from China escape all official controls and can therefore pose an animal or public health risk, as they have not undergone the normal health and quality checks of legal exports," the EU commission warned.

A long list of Chinese textiles are currently subject to EU-wide quotas and the commission has also slapped tough anti-dumping fines on Chinese leather footwear exports.

Brussels is also up in arms at China's flourishing market in counterfeit goods such as fake DVDs or pharmaceuticals - a concern that the EU shares with the US.

The EU is China's largest trading partner while China is now the EU's second largest trading partner after the US.

The total two-way EU-China trade increased more than forty-fold since reforms began in China in 1978 and was worth 174 billion euros (221 billion dollar) in 2004.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur