Chinese toys: Despite extensive testing, toxic products remain widespread.

Regarding the current widespread sale of toxic Chinese toys, Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan, Director of the Product and Goods Quality Management Department (Ministry of Science and Technology), stated that the agency has been conducting regular inspections, but toxic goods are still being smuggled in through unofficial channels.

Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan

Mr. Tuan said: Children's toys are classified as Group 2 goods. According to regulations, these products must meet Vietnamese standards before being allowed to circulate on the market (referred to as conformity). Currently, domestically produced children's toys must be certified as compliant, declared compliant, bear the compliance mark, and be fully labeled according to legal regulations before being circulated on the market. Imported children's toys must undergo state quality inspection; only if they meet the requirements will they be allowed to clear customs.

Sir, with such a strict control system in place, why are toxic toys still being sold so widely?

Currently, the market still has many counterfeit products of unknown origin, lacking conformity stamps, and mostly smuggled goods entering through unofficial channels. The arrest and handling of these cases requires more active involvement from relevant authorities combating smuggling and counterfeit goods.

We don't only conduct inspections when European warnings are issued. Inspections and warnings are a regular practice. In the first six months of 2015 alone, the quality inspection agency inspected 1,290 imported shipments, totaling 157,723,082 products, and only 4 shipments, totaling 10,898 products, failed to meet standards. This represents 0.3% of the shipments and 0.007% of the total number of imported goods that did not meet quality standards. These shipments were subsequently re-exported from the Vietnamese market.

In 2015, through market inspections, the Product Quality Inspection Agency at all levels temporarily suspended the circulation of 316 types of children's toys that violated labeling, quality, and origin regulations, and imposed administrative penalties. In addition to regular inspections, we also conduct surprise inspections and take samples for testing. If products are found to be substandard, consumers are warned. Last year, there were many warnings about toxic toys such as rocking animals, spiked balls, and talking cat-and-shrimp toys.

The reality is that many toxic products enter Vietnam and are only detected a long time later. Does this mean the warning system is paralyzed, sir?

Building an early warning system is essential and requires resources for implementation. One of the difficulties in managing toy quality in Vietnam is the testing process. We lack rapid testing equipment capable of quickly checking the quality of toy products during inspections and audits, to detect and filter out violations, and then take samples for analysis at laboratories to arrive at accurate conclusions and take appropriate action. Currently, inspectors still rely on visual inspection, and purchasing samples for testing is often ineffective, costly, and fails to detect violations.

Thank you, sir.

According to Tienphong.vn