2024-05-05 02:30:17
Chairman Ki-Jeong Han called the company and signed a safety agreement
Direct purchases in the first quarter amounted to KRW 938.4 billion… 50% increase in one year
Harmful ingredients repeatedly detected in Chinese toys and other products
‘Counterfeits’ are also a problem… Use of shortcuts such as mosaics
Pay attention to whether the promotion of the agreement will lead to effective change
While overseas direct purchasing through Chinese e-commerce companies Ali Express (Ali) and Temu continues to expand, the government is calling in these companies as issues of detection of harmful substances and counterfeit products are constantly raised.
According to the Fair Trade Commission on the 6th, the Fair Trade Commission plans to sign a product safety agreement with Chinese e-commerce companies Ali and Temu on the 13th. As the government has entered into management agreements directly with Chinese e-commerce companies, attention is focused on whether effective changes can be achieved.
According to the March online shopping trends announced by the National Statistical Office, China ranked first in the amount of online overseas direct purchases in the first quarter with 938.4 billion won. It is about 2.5 times higher than the second place, the United States (KRW 375.3 billion).
Direct purchases from China amounted to 609.5 billion won in the first quarter of last year, a 50% increase over the past year.
As direct purchases from China have exploded, cases of hazardous substances being detected in products imported through Chinese e-commerce companies are also continuing.
On the 2nd, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that as a result of testing the safety of 9 products, including 5 toys and 4 school supplies sold by Ali and Temu, banned hazardous substances were detected in more than half of the products.
In two types of ‘children’s clay’ products, which are popular for play and learning, CMIT (chloromethylisothiazolinone) and MIT (methylisothiazolinone), which are banned for use in children’s clay in Korea, were detected. It was known that this ingredient was also used as a humidifier disinfectant ingredient, and there was controversy over its harmfulness.
In the ‘Activity Board’ product, the lead content was detected to be 158 times (zipper slider, fuller yellow paint) and 21 times (brown leather) exceeding the standard value in each part.
On the 25th of last month, phthalate plasticizer (DEHP) was detected 324 times higher than the standard in children’s vehicle sunshade products sold at Ali. Phthalate plasticizers are environmental hormones that are prohibited from being used in children’s products because they cause endocrine disorders with long-term contact.
As a result of the Korea Customs Service’s analysis of the ingredients of 252 children’s products sold in Chinese e-commerce, harmful ingredients exceeding domestic safety standards by up to 3,026 times were detected in 38 products, or 15% of the products.
In addition to the detection of hazardous substances, the sale of counterfeit products is also pointed out as a problem.
Ali sells counterfeit products from various brands, including famous perfumes such as Jo Malone and Le Labo.
It was discovered that the seller used expedient methods, such as entering only the product name without specifying the brand in the product name and description, or mosaicing part of the image.
Last December, Ali announced that it would analyze images and texts based on artificial intelligence (AI) to solve the problem of counterfeit products, but it is not doing its job.
To prevent the sale of counterfeit products, search terms for famous brands such as ‘Hermes’ and ‘Nike’ were blocked, but when similar search terms such as ‘Herme
The Fair Trade Commission has been busy responding to Chinese e-commerce issues.
The Fair Trade Commission announced a bill to amend the Electronic Commerce Act that would require Chinese e-commerce to designate a domestic agent to fulfill its domestic consumer protection obligations. The introduction of consent payment, which allows consumers who have suffered small-scale damage to quickly receive relief, was also included in the amendment.
At the same time, we also launched a survey of domestic and overseas e-commerce markets. Through this, the plan is to identify changes in the industrial ecosystem caused by the rapid growth of Chinese e-commerce and utilize them in future legislation and policies.
Separate from the fact-finding survey on the market ecosystem, a fact-finding survey is also being carried out to determine whether consumer protection obligations are being fulfilled.
In the second half of the year, the plan is to enact the Framework Act on Consumer Safety to effectively respond to overseas hazardous products and expand authority and scope.
Attention is being paid to whether more effective changes can be achieved as a direct product safety agreement is promoted in addition to existing measures.
[세종=뉴시스]
2024-05-05 02:30:17