China has made considerable progress in ensuring the safety of toys exported to the European Union (EU), the European Commission said yesterday.

 

"The analysis of the RAPEX-China report showed that the Chinese administration has made a significant effort with respect to RAPEX enforcement actions," the commission, which is the EU's executive body, said in a statement.

 

RAPEX is the EU's rapid alert system for dangerous consumer goods.

 

Since last year, the EU has been relaying information to China about unsafe products of Chinese origin discovered in the European market.

 

China agreed in July to present a detailed report on prevention measures and the follow-up to European alerts in October after Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, made massive recalls of Chinese-made products.

 

According to the commission, the report showed that 184 cases were fully investigated from July to September, and corrective action taken in 43 percent of the cases.

 

By next month, China will put in place a domestic alert system modeled on the RAPEX system to coordinate work across various regions and increase effective cooperation.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2007)