RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and China have agreed to prepare a blacklist of exporters and importers of counterfeit goods from China, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The move was aimed at regulating the number of cheap quality Chinese products flooding the Saudi market, said Abdul Rahman Al-Abdul Razaq, undersecretary for consumer affairs at the ministry.
Speaking to Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, he said the new agreement would be implemented based on a previous agreement signed between Beijing and the European Union under which all counterfeit Chinese products would be banned in EU states and stringent punitive measures taken against those involved in their trade.
Al-Abdul Razaq disclosed such an agreement had been reached during his recent meeting with an official Chinese delegation led by the chief of China’s quality control body.
“I briefed the Chinese delegation on the negative impact of counterfeit products imported to the Saudi market on the reputation of Chinese brand products. Subsequently, the Chinese officials expressed their willingness to formally sign an agreement with the Kingdom based on the one they had already signed with the EU,” he said.
According to Al-Abdul Razaq, the meeting discussed various topics such as ensuring the quality of Chinese products exported to the Kingdom and taking punitive action against exporters involved in selling duplicate and cheap products, especially electrical appliances, dresses and toys.
He said a blacklist of Saudi businessmen involved in importing duplicate and cheap products from China would be prepared soon.
“In the light of this, we will ban these businessmen from importing from China. The Chinese authorities will also follow suit by preparing a blacklist of exporters of such products to the Saudi market and enforce a subsequent ban on their exports,” he said.
Citing major provisions of the agreement, Al-Abdul Razaq said all products meant for export to the Kingdom would be tested at the laboratories of some 35 quality control offices spread over 31 Chinese provinces.
“If any one of these products are found to be counterfeit, they will be banned from being exported to the Kingdom and the concerned exporters as well as factories manufacturing them will be blacklisted,” he said.
While China has become a country that has begun to manufacture nearly everything, or components of most goods, it is still being tagged as a country that only produces low quality goods on a regular basis.
The Chinese government has started taking a series of measures to remedy this.
Al-Abdul Razaq said the Chinese government had issued strict directives to local companies tasked with granting “Made in China” logos to various products to ensure the quality of products as well as monitor their manufacturing at factories and sale to importing countries.
“The Chinese delegation also expressed desire that the Saudi authorities would also take similar stringent measures to crack down on such cheap products and return them directly from various entry points to the Kingdom in addition to withdrawing such products that have already reached the local market,” he said.
He added that the ministry would intensify monitoring to prevent such products from entering the Kingdom. He also said huge quantities of duplicate products have been seized from various entry points in the Kingdom over the past few years and returned to exporters after initiating punitive measures against those involved in their trade.
No comments:
Post a Comment