China promises to report on EU safety complaints

BEIJING, July 24 (Reuters) China has promised to report regularly on how it handles European complaints about dangerous products, the EU consumer protection chief said today, noting that a past commitment had been laxly enforced.

European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, speaking amid a range of health scares involving Chinese food and other products ranging from tyres to toothpaste, said China had agreed to give a ''detailed report on prevention and follow-up actions to European alerts'' about problem products by October and then give quarterly reports.

A 2006 agreement demanded quarterly reporting on how China followed up on EU notices of dangerous toys, electrical goods and other products. But Kuneva said China's response so far had been inadequate.

''This has not been executed properly, because again two reports are not what we expected....What we need is to track down all of our notifications,'' she said of the agreement.

''The first report was very poor in respect of tracking down, the second was better but still not sufficient. That's why I'm here.'' Kuneva is in the middle of a five-day visit to China.

The deaths of patients in Panama from mislabelled drug ingredients, deadly toxins in pet food and food laced with additives and antibiotics have fanned public anxiety worldwide about the safety of China's surging exports.

European reaction has generally been milder than that of the United States, where lawmakers have demanded tough action that China calls protectionist.

But Kuneva noted that the October report would come shortly before EU President Jose Manuel Barroso holds a November summit with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

''It is important that we work towards a trend of 100 per cent follow-up of European alert notifications,'' Kuneva said.

''China is in a position really to prove how serious it is about investigating more thoroughly the problems we identify.'' Under the European Union's rapid alert system for non-food products, known as RAPEX, about 450 of the 1,000 or so notices issued last year involved Chinese goods, she said. A large fraction of problem goods have unclear origin.

Among the Chinese products listed in July were crayons with dangerous levels of lead and chrome, battery packs for electric screwdrivers that could explode, toy gun projectiles so small they could choke children and faulty soldering irons that posed a ''serious risk of electric shock''.

Kuneva said earlier that there had been a 2 percent fall in the percentage of Chinese-made goods receiving notifications of quality problems but faster improvement was needed.

''I continue to repeat that even 1 per cent (defect rate) is not good enough result,'' she said.

Reuters SV DB1234