Shanghai Port Imported Clothing Quality Still Has High Security Risks

The reporter learned on July 5 that imported clothing, artificial jewelry, etc. have been formally included in the statutory inspection catalogue for one and a half years. However, during this period, the quality inspection department found that the quality of imported garments still has high safety risks and needs to be highly valued.

It is understood that Shanghai is China's largest import clothing port. From January to June 2012, more than 10,000 batches of garments were imported from Shanghai port, valued at US$248 million, and import batches were unchanged from 2011, but the import amount increased by 12.7 percent year-on-year. %. According to industry insiders, this indicates that the grade of imported clothing has gradually increased.

From January to June this year, relevant departments conducted sampling inspections on imported garments, and the quality inspection batch defective rate including safety and health items at the Shanghai Port reached 8.4%, 1.75 percentage points higher than the 6.65% failure rate in the first half of 2011. .

In the first half of this year, inspections by the Shanghai Inspection and Quarantine Bureau found that there were problems with nearly 3,000 batches of Chinese clothing labels/labels worth US$65 million, and the batch disqualification rate was 25.7%.

In the quality inspection of nearly 5,000 batches of imported clothing such as safety and sanitary items, the inspection and quarantine department discovered that there were hidden safety hazards in more than 400 batches of imported clothing with a value of nearly US$3 million, and the sampling batch failed rate reached 8.4%. The unqualified projects mainly involved color fastness, pH value, formaldehyde, etc. Among them, 2 batches of unqualified imported garments were found to have cancer-causing banned azo dyes. It is understood that the Shanghai Inspection and Quarantine Bureau has supervised the implementation of rectification or destruction or return of unqualified products according to law.

During the year and a half of the statutory inspections of imported garments, through continuous and targeted publicity by the quality inspection department, most importers have understood and mastered China’s mandatory requirements for apparel products, and gradually adjusted the Chinese products’ Quality, but the overall pace of adjustment is still relatively slow.

It is understood that the quality inspection department has also taken a number of measures to optimize the customs clearance environment while ensuring the quality and safety of imported clothing and safeguarding the interests of domestic consumers. These measures include: formulating regulations for the inspection and inspection of imported garments, uniform operations, and creating a fair, fair, and transparent inspection and supervision environment; scientific management, through data accumulation, more imported batches, better product quality, and stronger management capabilities. Enterprises with higher levels of cooperation with the government will implement pre-assessment of imported fabrics, reduce the cost of corporate customs clearance, and accelerate the speed of corporate customs clearance. In addition, the establishment of the Shanghai Imported Clothing Inspection and Supervision Demonstration Zone will include the declaration, sampling, inspection, testing, and rectification of imported garments. The links are integrated in a centralized manner to further increase efficiency and reduce corporate costs and government administrative costs.