Brussels, 24/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - Mission accomplished. By going to China, European Consumer Policy Commissioner Meglena Kuneva was able to engage in frank and constructive dialogue with the Chinese authorities on the safety of Chinese consumer products, other than food, exported to the EU (EUROPE 9470). This first visit to China allowed Ms Kuneva to give the messages that she had just delivered in Beijing to Li Changiang, the minister for quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, and Zhou Bohua, the minister for trade and industry. Her messages are that: - there can be no compromise on consumer safety as people should be able to count on high safety standards in the EU; the EU believes in open markets and fair competition to ensure consumer confidence in the market and in equitable treatment for all products on sale; and the EU wants to work in partnership with China to solve problems that arise in Europe together, Europe being the leading export market and leading trade partner for this powerful emerging economy.
There are many problems. The figures given in the annual RAPEX 2006 report (the EU's early warning system for non-food consumer products) are worrying as they show that 50% of alerts are for goods of Chinese origin. The Commission takes these figures very seriously, Ms Kuneva stresses, saying that they are the reflection of massive export flows in traded goods from China to the EU, amounting to €192 billion in 2006 and growing at around 20% a year.
Although progress has been made since a protocol of understanding was signed in autumn 2006 on product safety and a roadmap was established on the safety of toys between the European Commission and the Chinese authorities, much remains to be done. This is what the commissioner pointed out, stressing that work should be stepped up on both sides, the EU and China, in order to do better within a real partnership.
The message has been received loud and clear, according to Meglena Kuneva. “I believe following my meetings that the Chinese authorities are taking these issues more seriously and that we can make progress. (…) Goodwill must be followed by actions. This visit is about cooperation not confrontation. It is in the spirit of partnership”, the commissioner said during the press conference that brought her one-week working trip to a close.
Among the progress made at the meeting, Meglena Kuneva was particularly pleased about Minister Li's commitment to submit a first detailed report to the European Commission in October on the prevention of dangerous products and on action by the Chinese authorities to follow up European alerts. The report will fuel preparations for the next EU/China summit meeting in November between Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Chinese President Wen Jiabao. More generally, the Chinese authorities undertook to regularly provide a detailed quarterly report on follow-up to alerts on the European market, to clearly establish what the Chinese authorities have done in terms of market surveillance and follow up to retrace the source of problems notified by Europeans. Ms Kuneva wants 100% follow-up of European alert notifications.
The Chinese authorities and the Commission also agreed to step up their cooperation on the EU China Rapid Alert System between now and the summit of EU China leaders in November (relevant high level officials will be designated for this) and to strengthen training seminars, the exchange of officials and technical assistance in the context of the memorandum of understanding. On the European side, “we will set out clearly what the Chinese authorities have done on market surveillance and their follow up actions to track down European alert notifications at source”, Meglena Kuneva assured, pleased with the report that she plans to give to her Commission colleagues and whose implementation she plans to follow closely in coming months. Examination of cooperation instruments and working methods are among the tasks that the commissioner must carry out to complete the system and to ensure that the EU and China have the tools required for winning European consumer confidence in Chinese products on the EU market. (an)