In the wake of Mattel's recall of 18 million Chinese-made products over safety concern, Germany launched an initiative Aug. 23 against defective and dangerous products. The economy ministry said it planned to host a round-table discussion on the subject on August 30 with manufacturers, industry groups, consumer protection organizations and the 16 regional states.
It said that although the EU sets high standards for product quality, more needed to be done to guarantee the norms are respected. It suggested a quality seal verifying products are safe. "Labeling to indicate the quality (of a product) is in the most basic interest of the German economy," the ministry said.
"German products in particular but also European products with high quality standards must compete on the market every day against much more cheaply produced products -- for example from Asia."
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
