In order to regulate and control the selling of shoddy and toxic children's toys that adversely affect human health in the market, the Gia Lai provincial Department of Science and Technology inspected the quality of children's toys in the province. Initial inspection results showed many violations mainly related to labelling and valid certificates.
Locally made toys are not diverse
Inspections of many bookshops and supermarkets in Pleiku city such as Thanh Nien Bookstore, Cultural Supermarket, People's Bookstore, Pleiku Co.op Mart Supermarket... showed that despite large quantity, children's toys on sale are poor in types and patterns with few of them are produced on high technology. These products are unattractive to customers, especially children. While examining Thanh Nien Bookstore in Pleiku city, most children's toy items on shelves here are produced in Vietnam (the majority made by the Cho Lon plastic company in Ho Chi Minh City).
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| Inspecting the quality of toys at the Fahasa Bookstore. Photo: Le Lan |
"Vietnamese goods are difficult to meet customer demands but imported ones with valid labels and certificates, and guaranteed quality are too expensive so it is difficult to sell them. The company does not import Chinese products because of concern about quality”-said Nguyen Ba Cuong, Director of the Gia Lai Books and School Equipment Joint Stock Company, which operates Thanh Nien Bookstore.
Sharing this issue, Director of the Standard-Measurement-Quality Department Nguyen Hoang, deputy head of the inspection delegation, said that in fact, made-in-China children’s toys are not prohibited. If they show sufficient registration papers, labels and certificates, businesses are still allowed to import them for sale.
Imported toys lack labels
Unlike Thanh Nien Bookstore, the items on sale at Fahasa Bookstore are plentiful, diverse in types, ranging from locally made to imported ones. However, through examinations, the interdisciplinary inspection delegation discovered some imported products on shelves are not sufficiently labelled or their extra stamps do not convey the full meaning of warnings. For example, for the extra stamp of the product named “infinity nado” (Chinese origin), only has half the warnings translated: "Toys with small parts, not for children under 3 years", but "forgets" the translation of warnings about the speed of the nado as at high speed, children under eight also have to keep off them.
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Notably, label violations are quite popular in some private shops (which hire space at Co.op Mart Pleiku Supermarket) with many imported products without valid stamps, including a large volume of imitated cars and infinity nado originated from China. The inspection delegation temporarily seized more than 40 products without valid labels and certificates and asked these businesses to provide enough relevant papers.
Besides violations related to valid labels, stamps and certificates, the inspection delegation also found a number of items recorded as souvenirs or decorations but exactly, they are toys. In the coming time, the delegation will continue sudden inspections on other toy shops in Pleiku city and other localities in the province.
Le Lan
