TOXICITY OF IMPORTED TOYS

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TOXICITY OF IMPORTED TOYS: 15.

Mdm Cynthia Phua asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the current process to test the toxicity of toys by importers; (b) whether the Ministry will look into a nation-wide review of all toys in the market before the year-end season; (c) what are the regulatory safeguards to protect children against toxic chemicals in toys; and (d) whether the Ministry has plans to tighten regulations on the importation of toys before they are put on the market.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Lee Yi Shyan) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Sir, the Consumer Protection (Trade Descriptions and Safety Requirements) Act provides

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the broad legal framework to protect consumers from unsafe consumer products. Regulations issued under the Act empower SPRING Singapore to regulate 45 categories of household electrical, electronic and gas products. Products capable of serious, immediate and adverse effects on consumers are gazetted as Controlled Goods and suppliers have to obtain safety certification before they can be legally sold in Singapore. The Act carries a maximum fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for a term of up to two years, or both. Other Government agencies are also vested with the legal authority to regulate the safety of consumer products in specific sectors such as food and medicine.

The Act also makes it a criminal offence to apply false trade descriptions on all goods. The aim is to protect consumers from being induced by errant traders to buy goods through the application of false or misleading trade descriptions. In the context of product safety, the Act could be enforced against suppliers who falsely describe their products as having met certain safety standards when they do not.

While toys are not screened upfront, their product safety is monitored through various mechanisms such as sharing of information with overseas safety agencies and provision of information by various consumer groups. SPRING Singapore works with suppliers to remove these consumer products from the market once they are found to be unsafe. Given the supply chain involved in bringing a toy to the point of sale, cooperation by all parties is key in ensuring product safety. This was demonstrated recently when the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) brought the discovery of unsafe toys to the public's attention through its tests of 50 toys. Since then, SPRING and CASE have been working with retailers and importers to recall and remove the unsafe toys from the market. SPRING is

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also conducting checks to ensure that these toys are not carried by other retailers not covered by CASE, and will step up its efforts to detect and remove unsafe toys during the year-end festive periods.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry and SPRING have been reviewing the existing framework to regulate general consumer products before the recent reports on unsafe toys. Based on the study of comparable economies and consultation with stakeholders, including CASE and departmental stores, we are looking at enhancing SPRING’s power to recall or ban products that do not meet standards, such as maximum level of lead allowed, when they are uncovered through mandatory notification of safety failures by suppliers, overseas incidents, or sample testings by SPRING. We expect to complete the review by the end of the year, before proceeding to amend the relevant legislation.

The emphasis on ex-post actions is also the approach taken by a number of developed economies such as South Korea, Australia and Japan. It provides a balanced approach that does not impose unnecessary cost on businesses.

The safety of toys is an important issue we must address. Along with the thousands of other consumer goods that are sold and used on a daily basis, we will need an efficient regime to ensure the safety of goods sold in the market. However, we should not over-react. Inspecting all toys upfront without consideration of the practicalities not only slows down the entire process and increases costs for the consumers, it has also not been proven to be effective anywhere in the world. For toy safety, we will continue to enhance product safety standards and surveillance based on our ex-post regime. This will require all parties, including importers, distributors and consumers, to play their part.

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Mdm Cynthia Phua: Sir, I have supplementary questions for the Minister. So far, the measures that he has mentioned are really about detection and the responsibility of the suppliers and also SPRING. What I am suggesting is this. Could the Minister look into having a certain determined percentage of tests by suppliers before they import their toys and also a self-declaration that the toys are tested according to standards that are imposed by Singapore, rather than just relying on standards established overseas? So, it is both: one, the supplier must comply to our standards and, two, there must be a certain percentage of the toys to be sent for testing, before they can be imported.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I forgot to declare that I am working in a retailer chain.

Mr Lee Yi Shyan: Sir, I want to thank the Member for her suggestions on how to improve the safety regime on toys. Toy safety is obviously very important to many parents and consumers. But we must also realise that, on a daily basis, we come into contact with many things, like the toys for the children, the clothes we wear, the dye and the gel we apply on our hair, the wallet and the cellphone cover that we carry. All of them are potential risks. And toy safety is just not whether it contains certain chemical, like the plasticiser or lead in bright painted products but, also, what if it falls apart and could the small parts pose a danger to children. So far, if you want to certify a particular toy that is safe for a particular age group, there is elaborate testing needed. And what is safe for a 12-year-old to a 15-year-old might not be safe for toddlers, say, below three years old.

We have studied a neighbouring country's example and a particular multinational at one time was asked to send all its toys for inspection before they could be allowed to come in. Based on

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just 6,000 toy varieties that they have, it will take six years just to clear that inventory of toys. And this is just for one company. I cannot imagine if we apply it to the toy industry and, extending the argument, to consumer products that we use on a daily basis.

I think the practical approach is really, as the Member suggested, develop our own standard and then increase our ability to detect toys that are unsafe, enhance our surveillance system and enhance our agency's power to ban the sale and recall the products by compelling the distributors, or the importers to do so, backed up by legislative power.

So, I think this is the direction that we are heading. We will continue to educate members of the public and consumers on the need to exercise caution and discretion when choosing their products. We hope to see better labels on toy products, for instance, how they can be used safely and the suitability for different age groups. So, overall, we can look forward to a stronger regime for toy safety next year.