XN000022-1997-03-20 — Page 6

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Regulations to enhance consumer protection

Two regulations on consumer goods and children's products, which seek to further enhance consumer protection, will be gazetted tomorrow (Friday).

A Government spokesman said today (Thursday) that the Consumer Goods Safety Regulation and the Toys and Children's Products Safety Regulation will be tabled at the Legislative Council on April 9.

The two Regulations require all consumer goods covered by the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance and toys and children's products covered under the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance to have all safety markings or labels in both English and Chinese (bilingual safety labelling requirement).

Additionally, all toys and children's products covered under the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance will have to carry the name, trade or other identification mark and the local address of the manufacturer, importer or supplier of the product (identification marking requirement) in English or Chinese or both.

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The spokesman said: "We recognise that safety labels in a language widely understood by the community - Chinese is of paramount importance to ensure consumer safety.

"We also see the need to ensure that the English-speaking community in Hong Kong, including some 160,000 foreign domestic helpers, understand the safety labels on consumer goods, toys and children's products."

He noted: "At present, there is no statutory requirement that safety markings or labels must be provided in English or Chinese."

The spokesman explained: "The bilingual safety labelling requirement will be confined to markings or labels relating to warning or caution phrases given for the safe keeping, use, consumption or disposal of the products.

"By doing so, we aim to strike a balance between enhancing consumer safety and avoiding imposing an undue burden on manufacturers, importers and suppliers.

"The identification marking requirement enables the Commissioner of Customs and Excise to easily identify the source of supply of an unsafe toy or children's product for necessary enforcement action under the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance.

"In order to allow the trade and industry sectors sufficient time to make the necessary adjustments to their products, we will bring the requirements into force 12 months after the enactment of the Regulations," the spokesman added.

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