Second Product Safety Day of the Sub-Working Group Automotive Safety in Shanghai

The second product safety day was held on the 22nd and 23rd of August in Shanghai, due to the immense importance of the Chinese market for the automotive industry. The event aimed to inform the Chinese and German side on current developments and measures on risk assessment, risk management and recall processes in Germany/Europe and China. It also provided an opportunity for the dialog and elaboration of a flow chart for the reporting of defect products by producers and the development of solutions for the risk assessment and management for producers.

Several presentations first treated topics within the scope of product safety for automobiles from the perspective of the BMWi, AQSIQ and the AQSIQ Defective Product Administration Center (DPAC), as well as company representatives from the industry.

According to the AQSIQ publication 179 (2015), Article 13, suppliers are also responsible for reporting potentially defect products to AQSIQ, along with the producers. This led to the suggestion from the German industry, to develop a flowchart for the processing of such a notification, which was discussed in four working groups on the product safety day in Shanghai. The preliminary results will be further processed by the Sub-Working Group and then implemented by the VDA. Subsequently, negotiations with AQSIQ will be underway to implement this procedure on an industry level or as a legal guideline.

The concerns raised in the small working groups were related to the different platforms for risk assessments of OEMs, the different ways of reporting defect products, the clear definition of article 13 and the possible dangers to supplier – producer relationships when the former reports a possible product deficiency.