China has established a blacklist of companies that have
violated rules on the quality of exports, the commerce ministry
said Saturday amid growing global concern about the safety of
China-made goods.
"We have set up a blacklist system for companies in the
exporting sector and punished some companies that have violated
laws and regulations," Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said in
remarks posted on the ministry's website. "Already 429 companies
have been punished."
Gao said the recent examples of companies that had been targeted
included two firms that illegally added a deadly chemical to food
products blamed for killing thousands of US pets.
The two companies, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development
Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., had their
export foreign trade licenses revoked, Gao said.
Gao stressed the government line that Chinese products were
overwhelmingly safe and of high quality, and called on foreign
media not to hype the problems of a small minority of goods or
companies.
"China will strengthen international cooperation on the safety
of products," Gao was quoted as saying.
A delegation of US officials in Beijing hammered out "basic
frameworks" for two agreements seeking to reassure US consumers
that Chinese-made goods met safety standards, Secretary of Health
and Human Services Mike Leavitt said on Friday.
China, where the former drug and food safety watchdog chief was
executed last month for corruption, has also cancelled the licenses
of six medicine manufacturers.
(Chinadaily.com.cn August 5, 2007)
