Next month, an international trade organization will begin inspecting Chinese toy manufacturers - producers of more than 75 percent of toys sold around the world - to ensure they meet new health, labor and safety guidelines.

The international Council of Toy Industries, a New York-based trade association, will offer certification to manufacturers that pass the voluntary inspections, the council's president, David Hawtin, said in Shanghai yesterday.

The certificates will help manufacturers sell their goods to some of the world's largest retailers.

The new code forbids companies from employing children under the age of 14 and using prison labor, as well as setting requirements for wages, overtime payment and working conditions.

Currently, the organization is training local auditors to conduct the inspections.

"The ICTI is committed to establishing a standard for toy makers' performance," said Hawtin, who is in town to attend the Shanghai Toy Expo. "We mean to educate and encourage responsible manufacturing, not to punish."

Chinese industry officials worried that many smaller manufacturers will not be able to meet the standards and thus see their products rejected by retailers.

"Although some domestic toy companies have become larger and larger in terms of scale, most of China's toy manufacturers are small in size and are not so standardized compared with the international requirements in aspects such as wages and overtime payment," said Xu Quanning, managing director of the China Toys Association.

Currently, toy exports must meet a set of domestic standards in order to sell their goods overseas, but those rules focus on the quality of the final products, not labor and health issues, said Wang Jinsong, assistant director of the Shanghai Import and Export Toy Inspection Center of China.

The ICTI code will be implemented globally, but the committee will begin inspections in China due to the massive market share domestic companies enjoy.

Several major international toy buyers such as Disney, McDonald's, Argos and Carrefour are urgently awaiting the code's implementation, according to the council.

"The code is a product of a growing consciousness of corporate social responsibility in the world. People don't want to buy things if they are not properly produced," Hawtin said.

"Those large toy traders wish to establish their reputation through cooperating with certified toy manufacturers."

Hawtin did say that implementing the code is a "long-term commitment."

"We will be patient enough to see changes in the industry. After all, we are dedicated to improving people's life and a healthy development of the toy market," Hawtin said.

As the world's largest toy manufacturer, Chinese toy makers exported US$9.93 billion worth of goods last year, according to the China Toys Association.

(Shanghai Daily Agency October 9, 2003)