Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TAIPEI2077
2007-09-10 06:08:00
UNCLASSIFIED
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
how-toVZCZCXRO2340 OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC DE RUEHIN #2077 2530608 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 100608Z SEP 07 FM AIT TAIPEI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6729 INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8884 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 9055 RUEHC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
UNCLAS TAIPEI 002077
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE PASS EEB/TPP/ABT PAUL SAXTON;
COMMERCE FOR 4431/ITA/MAC/AP/OPB/TAIWAN/MCHOI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD TBIO TW
SUBJECT: IMPORT SAFETY DIALOGUE
REF: A. STATE 125667
¶B. STATE 114788
Econoff delivered reftel import safety demarche on August
31 to Director General Chen Jay-san of the Bureau of
Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) of the Ministry of
Economic Affairs. Econoff emphasized that science-based
standards and best practices should be used as the
guidelines to determine product safety. Econoff also pointed
out that the working group's activities were not aimed at
protecting U.S. producers but rather to improve procedures
for ensuring the safety of imported products. Chen said that
most of the import problems that Taiwan has experienced have
to do with products from the PRC, followed by imports from
Southeast Asia. Toys from the PRC, for example, account for
70-80 percent of the Taiwan market. BSMI regularly collects
information on flawed products from the US Consumer Product
Safety Commission, press reports and its representatives
stationed overseas. Chen was very receptive to the idea of
an import safety working group and was willing to share data
on import safety. He said that the Executive Yuan, which has
oversight over the BSMI, has set up a website dedicated to
import safety and welcomed data sharing with other countries.
The website is at http.//www.unsafeimports.nat.gov.tw.
WANG