>> Arlene Flecha: Hello.
And welcomes to US Consumer Product Safety
Commissions webinar on foreign language media
and international outreach activities.
My name is Arlene Flecha.
And I am the program manager for
Southeast Asia and training exchanges.
Today I will be the moderator
and host of this event.
The webinar will last about one hour.
We will start with pre-recorded
presentations that will last about 30 minutes
and will include the following: Available
consumer product safety resources;
introduction to the foreign language website;
and some brief highlights of the training
on outreach initiatives within each region.
We will then have the live
component of the program.
If you have any questions during
the pre-recorded presentation,
please send them by email
to CPSC_webinar@CPSC.gov.
We will be monitoring this email box
and the relevant program manager will
answer your questions during the webinar.
Please also send your ideas and suggestions to
us on information resources, on training topics
that would be of interest to you
and your suppliers internationally.
We will compile your input to improve
our website resources and we'll take it
into consideration as we conduct
outreach and training activities.
Now I would like to share with you a
little bit of background about the CPSC.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission
is an independent federal agency.
It was established in 1973.
It is responsible for consumer product
safety functions of the federal government.
It has five commissioners appointed by
the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Our mission -- a very powerful
one -- keeping consumers safe.
Now I would like to give you a
sense of the magnitude of the impact
of having dangerous products in the marketplace.
It is estimated that every year 37,200
people die and 38.3 million suffer injuries;
all of these cost society about $1 trillion.
We are working to prevent these tragedies,
and we really appreciate your help
by procuring products that
meet safety requirements.
Because of the connected nature of
supply chains and manufacturing,
many of you may source products from other
countries, such as China, Mexico, and Vietnam.
Today we will highlight resources
that will be helpful to you
and your partners internationally.
Now I would like to introduce
our presenters for today.
We have Mrs. Sylvia Chen, program
manager for the East Asia/Pacific Region
and Foreign Language Media,
also Mrs. Tilven Bernal,
program manager for the western hemisphere, and
Mr. Steve Williams, program manager for China.
Now to begin our webinar, Sylvia will provide
an overview of what information is available
on consumer product safety
policy and safety requirements,
the languages in which the information
is available, and how can users find it.
After that, she will over CPSC's
activities in the East Asia/Pacific Region.
>> Sylvia Chen: Thank you, Arlene.
At the Office of International Programs I wear
two hats: My first hat is the program manager
for CPSC's Foreign Language Media program,
my second hat is the program manager
for CPSC's East Asia and Pacific program.
First I'm going to talk about CPSC's
Foreign Language Media program.
As you know, a significant portion of consumer
products used by American consumers nowadays
and manufactured overseas, such as China,
Mexico, Vietnam, and other parts of the world.
Due to language barrier, many foreign
stakeholders, including government officials
and manufacturers, have difficulty
in understanding US laws
and regulations on product safety.
The CPSC's foreign language web pages
and training tools raise awareness
about product safety matters among foreign
key stakeholders and helping them to say
in compliance with US safety requirements.
The foreign language pages provide easy access
to US legislation, regulations, guidelines,
and other advisories in foreign
suppliers' own language in order to ensure
that products they manufacture
meet US requirements.
In the next ten minutes or so, I will walk you
through foreign language resources
available at CPSC website.
So here is the content, foreign
language content we have of CPSC website.
So you can see we have the foreign language
websites, we have Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese.
And we have the business
education in Chinese, in Spanish,
in Vietnamese, in Korean, in Bahasa Indonesia.
And we also have the China product
health hazard monthly summary bulletin
that gives you the recalls on a monthly
basis of products manufactured in China.
And we have this list of key documents
available in foreign languages.
Now, first let's look at the Chinese website.
So this is the Chinese language website.
So we have the latest product
recalls in Chinese.
We have posted up to September.
And as you scroll down, you
will see this on the left box.
This is the link to the business
education Chinese version.
So you click this and that will take you to
the Chinese version of business education.
So you see there we have the step one for
children products; step two for regulations;
step three, testing certification; step four,
labeling and requirements; and step four,
reporting requirements; and
the last step is best practice.
And on the right side this is the
business guidelines in Chinese, like,
on material -- asbestos, ATB, and so on.
So then next here on the
Chinese language website,
this item is the CPSC training materials.
If you click this, you see all the
materials that we have in Chinese,
but we provide English version
as well just for convenience.
Because some of the foreign manufacturer, they
do want to see the English original as well.
And then this bullet, if you click it,
it will take to you the training
activity we have conducted in China.
Now, on the right side, this is the
regulations, laws, and standards.
So if you click this one, that
will take you to our English page
of regulation, law, and standards.
And then if you click this one, this is the new
certification testing and helpful reminders.
If you click this one --
we are building this page.
Let's go to this one.
This is the list of key documents
available in foreign languages.
So you will see, like, major
documents, key documents.
We have listed them in all
these foreign languages.
So here, the resources links, if you
click, right now we have a video.
So this is the safety tips for
manufacturing for consumer product suppliers.
[ Music ]
[ Foreign Language Spoken ]
>> Sylvia Chen: Now, next I'm going to
show you the Spanish language website.
So this is our Spanish landing page.
So you can see it mirrors the English web page.
So on the left side it's the latest
CPSC recalls, and it's in Spanish.
The right side is the latest
news -- they are also in Spanish.
Then if you scroll down, here
we, again, have two blue boxes.
The left one takes you to the Spanish
version of the business education page.
And then here we have the CPSC training
activities and CPSC training material.
The right side, the same.
We have the regulations, laws, and the standards
that will take you to the English page.
And if you click the new certification testing
and helpful reminders, that will take you
to whatever Spanish documents
we have already translated.
And click this one, that
will take you to the list
of key documents available in foreign languages.
And here is the resources links.
If you click this one, that is the Spanish
version of business desktop reference.
Now, next we are going to have the Vietnamese
version, Vietnamese language website.
So, again, we have the -- here you click it,
that take to you the Vietnamese
version of business education.
And then this is the CPSC training activity.
You click this one, we have the
English page of the activities.
We conduct training activity,
we conduct it in Southeast Asia.
So here, this picture is about the
CPSC latest buyer training in Vietnam.
This is the training material in Vietnamese.
So here we have Vietnamese version of the video,
highlights of [inaudible]
requirements in the United States.
>> Hello.
[ Foreign Language Spoken ]
>> This is the same as the training material.
And here we click this one that,
again, takes us to the list
of key documents available in foreign languages.
This one is the promotional products, the
Chinese translation of promotional products
that we have posted at CPSC website.
So how do you find this one if
you are visiting the CPSC website?
We go to the business manufacturing, business
-- let's switch to the Chinese version.
So if you go to on the right rail, go to the
promotional products, you click this one.
And that will take you to the
document I just showed you.
We have also posted the foreign language
video, the one I just showed you --
the safety tips for consumer product
suppliers -- and also the Vietnamese one.
And finally, we have this China product
hazard monthly summary bulletin.
So this is the China product
has a monthly bulletin.
So I have just shown you this
since the September version.
So just now I have demonstrated to you what
we have in the foreign language resources.
We have -- we hope that these foreign language
resources will be useful to you when you want
to know more about US requirements
on consumer products.
Now I'm going to give you a brief
overview of CPSC's East Asia program.
The program covers these jurisdictions
in the Asia Pacific region.
They are Japan, Korea, Taiwan,
Australia, and New Zealand.
For this webinar, I will just talk about Korea
and Taiwan because of their roles as exporters
of consumer products to the United States.
Taiwan is the United States'
fifth largest source
of consumer products in the CPSC jurisdiction.
And the Republic of Korea is eighth largest.
In general, Taiwan and Korea are nonsignificant
sources of products recalled by CPSC; however,
it is noted that during 2011 to 2015 there were
120 recalls of Taiwan-manufactured products,
many of which are bicycles
and bicycle components.
Recalls of products made in Korea are very few.
To be proactive in ensuring that products
used by American consumers are safe,
CPSC has conducted numerous in-person
training outreach activities overseas
to educate foreign suppliers, manufacturers,
and exporters on US requirements
for consumer products.
In Taiwan and Korea we conducted training
seminars on such product categories
as bicycles and bicycle components.
This is in Taiwan.
And our electrical products
in both Taiwan, Korea.
Just two months ago in cooperation with
our counterpart agencies in Taiwan,
Korea held training seminars there.
The target audience of both seminars are
companies that have investments in China.
In both seminars, we highlighted the importance
of meeting US requirements, as well as designing
and manufacturing products as safely as possible
to ensure that products they produce for export
to the US market are safe for use by consumers.
In addition to PowerPoint presentation and
printed training material traditionally used
for such training, we used digital
materials such as the video recordings
and website postings to direct the
audience to CPSC's digital library
of foreign language material,
which I had just shown to you.
We had a pretty good turnout at both seminars.
Each seminar was attended by about 120 people.
My colleagues in charge of other
regional programs should be able
to share their outreach training
experiences with you
since I'm now turning over
the baton to them now.
Thank you.
>> Arlene Flecha: Thank you, Sylvia.
Now Tilven will provide an overview of
activities in the western hemisphere.
>> Tilven Bernal: Hello.
I'm going to be talking about our
work in the western hemisphere.
Our program covers CPSC's international
activities in North, Central,
South America, and the Caribbean.
A key element of our program is our work
with Mexico and Canada that are the second-
and third-largest sources of consumer
products sold here in the United States.
The three jurisdictions have built a
strong relationship over the years.
We've had three North America summits.
And from each of those, we have
strengthened our partnership
and have increased the number
of joint activities.
We have created work groups as well with
technical experts from the CPSC, Profeco,
and Health Canada to work on
different areas of product safety.
The labs, for example, meet regularly to do
interlaboratory studies on different topics
such as lead in children's
products and phthalates.
We have increased the number of trilateral
recalls, and we continue to encourage industry
to contact each of the agencies when there is
an unsafe product that has been sold in any
of the three countries of North America.
We have periodic calls and
some in-person meetings
to share best practices on import safety.
That includes participation from CVP and from
the customs agencies in Canada and Mexico.
We also have an initiative called the Early
Consultation Initiative, and it is a series
of technical consultations on unaddressed
hazards that have not been the subject of study
or review by any of the three agencies.
The idea is to come to a
consensus on what the hazard is
and what is the best way to approach it.
We also work together on consumer
outreach and industry outreach.
And on that point I would like
to give you a few examples.
We have the three agencies in the United
States, Mexico, and Canada have participated
in panels together during [inaudible], at
the Toy Fair in New York, at the ABC Show.
We have done webinars bilaterally on toy safety.
So last year Canada and the United States talked
about toy requirements for both countries.
And in January 2017 we're going
to have a trilateral webinar
about requirements for textiles and apparel.
We have also inside Mexico provided training to
industry through ProMexico and through Profeco.
We have covered a number of topics, such
as textiles and apparel requirements;
safety on electrical products; as well as
safety for toys and children's products;
and best manufacturing practices
all focused on safety.
In the rest of the hemisphere, we also look
for opportunities to reach out to industry.
We have participated in numerous seminars
in Central America and South America
with industry manufacturers and exporters,
especially on the topic of textiles and apparel.
We also engage with our counterpart
government agencies in the region.
We do so bilaterally when possible,
but we also use multilateral forums,
such as the Consumer Safety and Health Network
of the Organization of American States.
The goal is to share best practices
and collaborate on joint initiatives
to seek alignment on approaches
at high levels of safety.
Thank you for your attention.
>> Arlene Flecha: Thanks, Tilven.
Now Steve will share activities
in the China area.
>> Steven Williams: Thank you, Arlene.
Because China is one of the largest
sources of imported consumer products,
many of which are under CPSC's jurisdiction,
the China Program at CPSC is a significant
focus of our international efforts.
The CPSC China Program has come
a long way since its early days.
In the early days of the program,
the focus was primarily aimed
at helping our Chinese counterpart organization,
the Administration of Quality, Supervision,
Inspection, and Quarantine -- AQSIQ --
to understand the mechanics of how the
American consumer product safety system works
and the differences between the types of US
product safety requirements, for example,
standards versus technical regulations.
Since those days we've added
significantly to the program.
We now are fortunate to have an office in
Beijing, which includes a local hire in China --
a regional product safety specialist.
She, along with a full-time US citizen
-- our regional product safety officer --
are a tremendous asset to our
work in the China Program.
These two full-time staff crisscross
China and assist us in a variety of ways:
They visit local manufacturing areas; they
conduct discussions with our counterpart, AQSIQ;
they meet with and conduct discussions with
the China Inspection and Quarantine Offices,
CIQ, which is a subsidiary of AQSIQ.
All this helps to do a dialogue to
strengthen and identify training events,
share testing know-how, do
information exchange on the requirements
of the Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act of 2008.
CPSC staff at our Beijing office communicate
almost daily with our counterparts in China.
CPSC now conducts outreach, much
of it in person to thousands
of foreign industry representatives each year.
These sessions cover topic-specific that help
small- and mid-sized manufacturers to comply
with the US rules of greatest
relevance to their products.
Typical priority areas for us have
been electronics, toys, and textiles.
Discussions with suppliers
in China at these events
and at these meetings often
uncover safety issues relating
to emerging technologies and/or rapidly
developed new products, an increasing number
of which are delivered through
international e-commerce.
For all Chinese consumer product
manufacturers and trade groups,
our message now emphasizes
manufacturing best practices,
including rigorous supply chain management as
a way to maintain the integrity of the products
and ultimately the reputation
of the made in China brand,
especially pressing Chinese consumer
product suppliers to deliver a culture
of proactive product safety
in their organizations.
In recent years we have expanded our
industry outreach to include buyers
and sourcing professionals within China.
Why buyers and why sourcing professionals?
This group influences obviously
the buying decisions --
what is manufactured and what
is sent to the United States --
in a very impactful and tremendous way.
And so by educating the buyers on
the requirements and what to look
for in a safe product, what are the
requirements for electronics, toys,
textiles and other priority areas, we
help to keep consumers safe at the source.
Typically we team with foreign
jurisdictions to deliver this training.
We have had, for example,
in recent activities teaming
with the European Union for
buyers training in China.
This past year we worked with the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission
for training in two cities in China.
This program will continue in future years.
We're quite proud of the results.
And we're looking for areas to
expand and strengthen even more.
For example, this past year working with our
Australian counterparts in Quanzhou we had
over 250 participants in the buyers training.
Other activities that we have conducted in
China are bilateral and trilateral discussions.
These happen every two years.
This provides a forum for high-level attention
to consumer safety issues among the parties
and a chance for stock-taking of the
progress that we've had in the program
and planning for future activities.
Overall we want to ensure that Chinese suppliers
use internationally-recognized best practices
to ensure the safety of the consumer products
they produce -- safety at the source.
We know from our activities in China
that many of the documents, for example,
that Sylvia had mentioned that are in Chinese
and other languages are a tremendous
asset for the manufacturers.
They're widely used.
And we would welcome input on other
such documents that may be useful
to your suppliers, or importers, or buyers.
Thank you for your time.
>> Arlene Flecha: Now I would
like to give you some highlights
of our activities in the Southeast Asia region.
I started managing the Southeast
Asia region in 2012,
and year after year I'm constantly
impressed at the magnitude of the growth
of imports from Vietnam to the US.
It's really amazing.
And you can see in this chart especially when it
comes to apparel and furniture, as you may know,
many companies are moving their
production from China to Vietnam.
Vietnam is the second source of furniture and
apparel for the United States after China,
the third source of toys, and the
eighth source of electrical products.
But we're not only working with Vietnam,
we're also working with major economies --
emergent economies -- in the region,
mainly Indonesia and Malaysia.
Our focus is on apparel and
furniture industries.
Our goal is that manufacturers
adopt best manufacturing practices.
Also, we have a very strong relationship with
our government counterparts in the region.
And with them we exchange best
practices on regulatory policies.
Also, we have been focusing on
training hundreds of manufacturers,
including participation in
furniture trade shows.
This year we conducted our first buyers
training in Vietnam in partnership
with our Canadian government
counterpart, Health Canada.
It was a total success.
The event took place in September and
we had over 125 buyers in the audience.
In this particular training we also
added the requirements for toys
because as you can see also, the production
of toys is growing substantially in Vietnam.
Some of the industry representatives'
common themes during the training --
the buyers training -- were foster shared
responsibility; do not make decisions based
on pricing alone; and also, deal
with the issues in the design phase.
And this is really a major theme of our
training that we want people to keep safety
at the source -- that's where we need to start.
So all of this information is worth considering
when selecting suppliers around the world.
Thank you.