Hong Kong-In recent years, countries around the world have been interested inToysSafety is becoming more and more important. Some government regulators believe that they have successfully reduced the number of unsafe toys, and this trend will continue in the future.

In fact, according to the feedback received at the recent industry conference held at the Hong Kong Toy Fair, the use of chemicals in toy production will be more restricted in the future. Experts attending the show urged toy factories in Hong Kong and mainland China to prepare for this. It is estimated that the toys produced in these two places account for more than 70% of the total toy production in the world.

Tan Weimou, technical chairman of the Hong Kong Toy Association and an executive of plastic toy manufacturer Zhentai Co., Ltd., said: "You don't need to use a crystal ball to know that there will be more and more restrictions on chemicals in the future."

He spoke at the 2014 Hong Kong Toy Industry Conference held at the same time as the Hong Kong Toy Fair on January 8.

In particular, Mr Tam suggested that toy factories in Hong Kong and mainland China invest money to improve their internal testing laboratories, hire more chemical engineers and better improve their chemical skill sets. he said the hong kong toys association set up a chemical database two years ago to help the toy industry better cope with the challenges.

Tan Weimou currently serves as the Director of Systems and Compliance of Hong Kong Zhentai Company Limited. He told guests at the meeting, mostly from Hong Kong toy manufacturers, that the government would introduce more restrictions on toy chemicals to quell public concerns.

He pointed out that in 2008, the United States explicitly bannedPlasticSome phthalates are used in toys and are specifically mentioned in several US states where relevant measures have been taken.

He said, "Although it is expensive to set up an in-house chemistry laboratory, if you compare it with the cost of outsourcing to third-party testing and the cost of [product] recalls, you will find that it is completely worth it. You need to have chemical knowledge to deal with chemical regulations."

Due to the safety problems of Chinese toys, the US government took important measures to upgrade the safety of toys in 2008. These include banning certain phthalates in toys, imposing new limits on lead levels, imposing far more stringent testing and bookkeeping requirements than previously required, and empowering government regulators to significantly increase the amount of fines they can impose for violations.

A major issue at the meeting was the new EU rules implemented in July, which further restricted chemicals in toys.

Government officials from the European Union and the United States said at the meeting that more relevant regulations are expected to be introduced in the future.

Vogelgesang Jurgen, policy officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Business and Industry, said that the EU is currently discussing restrictions on bisphenol A (a component of polycarbonate) and a variety of flame retardants used in plastics-including TCEP, TCPP and TDCP.

In addition, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering whether more types of phthalates should be banned.

Marc Schoem, deputy director of the committee's compliance and field operations office, said more [phthalates] are being studied to see if they should be banned.

"It raises sensitivities and concerns about the use of chemicals in toys or plastic products. Like the European Union, we are concerned about this and we hope to be the first to address this issue," he said."

Representatives of regulators and industry officials attending the meeting hailed the greatly strengthened cooperation between government and enterprises in recent years, and officials from the European Union and the United States said they maintained close cooperation with regulators in China.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission opened an office in Beijing in 2009. The EU, for its part, has been sharing data with Chinese regulators for years, providing Chinese authorities with a list of Chinese manufacturers listed by the EU Rapid Alarm System for Hazardous Non-Food Products (RAPEX) as violating toy safety standards.

Vogelgesang said that China is currently the only country in the EU to share information, because China is the world's toy manufacturing factory. He said the EU deeply appreciates the efforts made by Chinese regulators.

Schoem said the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission believes that the new measures taken by the United States have made toys safer in the United States. The United States is the world's largest toy market, accounting for about 25% of global toy spending.

In the most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the U.S. government recalled 31 batches of toys. It was the fewest number of recalls in five years in the United States, down from 172 in 2008.

Schoem said, "There is no doubt that every day we see toys from Asia getting better and better in terms of safety. What I want to say here today is that it is very important to want to continue. We don't want to go back to the past, we want to be more proactive in identifying and solving problems before they occur."

In his speech, he said frankly that the reduction in the number of recalls may also "reflect the reduction in the number of reports and our ability to properly handle such reports," but he also pointed out that "it does look better than the years with the highest number of recalls in 2008 and 2009."

EU representative Vogelgesang said he could not comment on whether toys were safer because the European Commission did not track the recall data and the data were followed up at the national level.

He said at the meeting that the authorities will continue to do a good job of checking to ensure that dangerous goods-especially dangerous toys-are not sold in Europe.

In an interview with Plastics News after the meeting, he suggested that China would remain the focus of European regulators. He said that 58% of the illegal products listed on the EU's RAPEX alarm system in 2012 came from China, which reflects the importance the EU attaches to China.

He told Plastics News that toys and other products made in China are everywhere in the European market. "The reason why the EU authorities are particularly concerned about Chinese-made toys and other Chinese products is because they know that these products may be potentially dangerous. They are particularly vigilant about Chinese products, and you have to recognize that."