Workshop about the harmonization of conformity assessment procedures for toys

On 20 June 2014, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the Certification and Accreditation Administration or the P.r: China (CNCA), the German Association of the Toy Industry (DVSI) and representatives of German toy companies and testing and certification institutes met in Berlin at the invitation of BMWi and the Sino-German Quality Infrastructure Project to attend a planning workshop for the project´s core topics.

The workshop, which was led by Mr. Joachim Geiss (Deputy Division Head, Market Surveillance, Product Safety and Technical Harmonization at BMWi) and Mr. Liu Weijun (Deputy Division Head at CNCA), served as a platform for the exchange of ideas and planning of further actions in this key area. Mr. Jürgen Jagoschinski (DVSI) presented a project proposal on the basis of the meeting of German experts in February this year in Hamburg, which was welcomed by CNCA. Subsequently, the proposal will be further revised and adapted to CNCAs responsibilities. Most importanty, both sides want to investigate the fundamental differences in conformity assessment procedures between China and Germany.

CNCA also presented a new proposal for the cooperation of conformity assessment in the area of child restraint systems. This proposal – thematically not a part of toy safety in Europe – will be tested subsequently by the German side.