hand crochet,hand knitting,pet toys,China chinese manufacturer

EbS to Air Long Special on EU-China Relations

Australian Sniffer Dogs Join Chinese Drug Fight

Sex Culture Festival Opens in Guangzhou

Guangzhou Embraces 3rd Sex Festival

Carnival Fee Cut to Lure Players

Lethal Container Blast: 5 Critically Injured

Carnival Completes Its Spin

Growing Up Hard for Single Child Generation

Growing up Hard for Single Child Generation

Skies Open to China's New Jet Set

Cat Dropping Experiment Stirs Pet Welfare Concerns

China to Intensify Toys' Quality Control

The Daur Ethnic Group

Substandard Toys on Display

Child Safety Cited in Call for Better Toy Quality

Boy Returned to Parents

House Seekers Search for Dream

Young Panchen Lama Sees 'Great Historic Mission' on His Shoulders

10 New Jobs in Search of Skilled Workers

Female and Male: Different but Equal

Folk Arts Celebrating the Coming New Year

Avant-garde Desinger Showcases History on T-shirts

Migrant Workers Call the Shots

Migrant Workers Call the Shots

Indonesia Is Crying

Stone Lions Tell of a Tradition's Rise and Fall

Nation Lacking Laborers

Export Mix Adjustment Urged

Faye Wong's Love: To Be or Not to Be

Toys Tariff Lifting to Spark Fierce Rivalry

Gift Makers Witness 'Chilly Christmas'

Scientists Find 178 New Species in Oceans

Beijing Olympiad: Profit or Loss?

Scientists Find Prehistoric Dwarf Skeleton

Taiwan IT Sector Loyal to Mainland

Music Fans Tune up for Beijing Festival

Magic Masters All: the Elite Eight Set to Puzzle Beijing

New Standards to Improve Toy Safety

Quality of Sex Products Sparks Concern

Factory Closed for Using Child Labor

Largest Birthday Teddy Bear Adds to Fun to HK

Beijingers to Embrace Disney on Ice

Animated Life

A Painter and His Panda Complex

Inferior Toys Threaten Children's Health

Loved Woman Police Chief Mourned

Grisly Toys Face Market Ban: Official

Toy Safety Standards to Be Tightened

Safety Standard for Toys to be Tghtened

Sassy Girl Gets Back to Business

Kitchen Hand Scores High in TOEFL

Red-hot Passion

Kitchen Hand Scores High in TOEFL

Guide to Cancer Prevention

Women in the Workplace: A Great Leap Backward

Vanessa-Mae: Flirting from Classicality to Popularity

New Toy Quality Standard Set

Lord of the Rings Sweeps Oscars

'Rings' Sweeping Oscars with 10

Iraq Shi'ites Say Late Polls Will Lead to Violence

Tony Leung Born to Be An Actor

Toy Dolls For Valentine's Day

Airport Service Overhauled

Fingers Do the Talking

Robot Wars Come to Beijing

Preparations for Christmas with Mass Toys, Gifts Exports

Director Zhang Yang Prepares for His Latest Flick

UNICEF Helps Needy Kids in China

Taiwan Makes an Entrance

International Toy Makers Try to Solve China Market Puzzle

Youth Joins DIY Bandwagon

Toy Makers Prepare for Certification Process

2nd International Toy Fair to Be Held in Shanghai

Toy Export to Exceed US$10 Billion in 2003

Pottery Pooches a Lasting Legacy of Han Dynasty

Culture of the Three Gorges Area in Paleolithic Era

Alleged Kidnappers Arrested in Southeast China Province

Ministry to Safeguard Export Growth

China's Pretty Ghosts from Hell

Toymakers Face Bleak Future

The Creative Magic of Bamboo

Short War to Have Limited Impact on HK's Exports

Lawmakers, Political Advisors Concerned with Oil Security

Chinese Lawmakers, Political Advisors Concerned with Oil Security

A Lifetime of Juggling Diabolos

Chinese Buy Wool, Cashmere to Cheer Year of Sheep

Beijing Court Hails IPR Protection

Adult Toys, Under Regulated, Overpriced and Over Here

Adult Toys, Under Regulated, Overpriced and Over Here

Go Gaga for The Goat

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.