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US child safety law to impact Vietnamese exports
The national textile and footwear association is worried that a new child safety law that takes effect next February in the US could affect their members’ exports.
The law sets out new compliance, testing and certification requirements for children’s products.
Le Quoc An, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), said that under the US’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), shipments imported to the US from February 1, 2010 must be safety certified before going through the US customs agencies.
But Vietnam is yet to have any recognized lab to undertake mandatory third-party testing for children’s products, he said.
“Vitas’ Textile and Apparel Institute is building a VND48 billion (US$2.7 million) lab and expects it to become operation by next February, “said An.
In Vietnam, there are now three accepted labs set up by foreign companies: INTERTEX, SGS, and BVQI.
Diep Thanh Kiet, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, said the industry will be “heavily affected” by the new law as exports to the US are on the rise.
“Footwear companies will have to consider increasing export prices because of the additional costs of testing, he said, “In principle, customers will the [final] party to bear the cost, but the point is that exporters have to persuade their customers to share it.”
Under the CPSIA, the US Congress has mandated that 3 types of phthalates are permanently banned, and 3 others would be temporarily banned, while being studied further.
As with the phthalates limits, lead content limits have a one year stay on enforcement of testing and certification that expires on February 10, 2010. The CPSIA will enforce all limits from then on.
The CPSIA also requires that the long-standing, comprehensive set of voluntary global toy standards used in the US and some other economies – known as ASTM F963 – becomes mandatory.
F963 has provisions that cover cord lengths on toys, magnets, noise levels, entrapment hazards, cadmium levels, and many other standards.
thanhnien, tt
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