China, the United States, and Europe reach a new consensus on deepening consumer product safety cooperation

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 10th (Reporter Zou Duowei) On the 10th, it was learned from the General Administration of Customs that the 8th China US Europe Tripartite Ministerial Conference on Consumer Product Safety, held in Hangzhou on the same day, reached a new consensus of "four commons" to further deepen cooperation on consumer product safety, that is, to seek to build "common standards" for consumer product safety, deepen "common supervision" for consumer product safety, continue to focus on "common protection" for consumer rights, and strive to safeguard the "common safety" of consumer products.

This conference is jointly held by the General Administration of Customs of China, the Consumer Product Safety Commission of the United States, and the Judicial and Consumer Department of the European Commission, with the theme of "Digital Intelligence, Internet, and Shared Security". The three parties focused on deepening consumer product safety cooperation and information sharing under the background of trade digitization, and clarified that they will fully utilize the existing cooperation framework, guided by the new consensus reached in seeking to build international standards, gather regulatory efforts from all parties, and strengthen risk information exchange, to further protect the health and safety of consumers from all sides.

The three parties also unanimously stated that they will continue to strengthen collaborative governance among the three parties, governments, industries, and industries, play their respective roles and responsibilities, and respond to new challenges. Under the framework of continuous high-level exchanges, we will deepen project cooperation, exchanges, discussions, and professional training in professional fields, strengthen information communication and technical consultations, promote consumer product safety cooperation and governance to a new level, and continuously improve the level of consumer rights protection.

It is reported that the 16 year tripartite cooperation mechanism and joint action on consumer goods safety between China, the United States, and Europe have achieved positive results in protecting regional and international consumer safety, and promoting the development of consumer goods trade. The data released by the General Administration of Customs on the same day showed that in 2023, the import and export trade value of consumer goods between China, the United States, and China Europe was 1.8 trillion yuan and 1.79 trillion yuan, respectively. In the first quarter of 2024, it was 374.78 billion yuan and 393.3 billion yuan, respectively.