BEIJING (Kyodo) — China's government on Friday introduced a recall system for food and toys amid international concern over the safety of Chinese-made products.
The new regulations say that if a product is found to be unsafe the manufacturer must stop making and selling it, and swiftly notify vendors, customers and quality control authorities.
A statement from the government's safety and quality watchdog said the new rules also require businesses to either replace or compensate customers for any goods found to be faulty.
Manufacturers have to bear the main responsibility for their products' safety and this would push them to improve the quality of their goods, the statement added.
A similar recall system was introduced in China two years ago for cars.
The Chinese authorities' announcement comes after the toy retailer Toys R Us recalled 27,000 Chinese-made paint and crayon sets in the United States earlier this week after ink on the packaging and some of the watercolor paints inside were found to contain lead.
The toy firm Mattel also asked for over 18 million Chinese-made products to be returned earlier this month amid concerns over their safety.
China's government has accused some sections of the foreign media of exaggerating safety problems in recent months, but it says it is committed to ensuring that Chinese-made products are safe and of a high quality.
China's economy grew by 11.5 percent in the first half of the year and much of that expansion was fuelled by the export of Chinese manufactured goods.
