Non-Tariff Trade Barriers Sharply Increase &Nbsp; Shoes Look Forward To Third Party Certification

December 6th, with the rise of "made in China", China's footwear industry It has taken an unrivalled position in the world and has made Dongguan's world shoe capital more famous. However, the quality of China's footwear industry has always been criticized by the world before China's manufacturing has yet to complete its fundamental transformation to China. Tariff trade Barriers to the Chinese shoe industry cause no small trouble. At the same time, the third party authentication and detection are increasingly paid attention to by the industry.

　 Sharp increase in non-tariff trade barriers

In recent years, China's foreign trade friction has occurred frequently. Take the biggest market of shoes exported from Wenzhou as an example, Wenzhou shoe dealers also encountered various trade controls when they got good sales results. From 1995 to 1997, the EU carried out anti-dumping investigations on leather shoes in China, amounting to US $450 million. In February 1998, the European Commission ruled that the export price of leather shoes to the EU should not be less than 5.7 euros / pairs, while the average price of leather shoes exported to the EU was 5.47 euro / double, and the increase was 4.2%. Since October 7, 2006, the European Union has imposed a two-year anti-dumping duty on Chinese leather shoes and children's shoes for 16.5% years. At the same time, the EU is also about to implement the "registration, evaluation and licensing of chemicals" and "blue dye ban" and "azo dye ban" and so on. The testing standards for azo dyes, formaldehyde and nickel in shoe making materials have been improved. Obviously, trade barriers have become an insurmountable threshold for shoe companies.

From the practice of international trade, non-tariff barriers are hidden and legal. For example, technical barriers in non-tariff barriers not only avoid the divergence of unreasonable distribution, but also put forward various technical standards, and many standards are based on national laws and regulations. Some developing countries are simply unable to cope with the low level of science and technology. For example, the occupational safety and health administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the environmental protection agency, the Federal Trade Commission and so on all enacted laws and regulations, including the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the control of radioactive health and Safety Act and so on.

With the implementation and updating of the EU REACH regulations, the footwear industry in China is a labor-intensive industry. The chemicals involved in the products involve a large amount of risk chemicals, a wide variety of products. In addition, the export enterprises of the European Union do not attach enough importance to foreign standards and regulations, and lack of research. The export enterprises are more passive in the face of technical measures. Many enterprises still have some misunderstanding about the REACH regulations, which makes the relevant foreign notification and return of footwear export happen frequently. According to official statistics from the United States and the European Union, the first quarter of this year, China's export footwear products were recalled by the United States and Europe in a total of 31 batches, representing a sharp increase of 40% compared with the same period last year. Chemical hazards were the main reason for the recall of footwear products, accounting for 82.48% of the total recall. Most of the two methyl fumarate (DMFu) exceeded the standard, accounting for a higher proportion of chemical recalls due to chemical hazards.

　 Domestic footwear industry is facing quality crisis

Recently, the Shanghai industry and Commerce Department has monitored the quality of children's leather shoes sold in some shopping malls, supermarkets and wholesale markets in Shanghai. After testing, 24 batches of goods were unqualified, and the formaldehyde content of "BOBDOG Babu" children's shoes, which was produced by Guangdong Bao pun children's Technology Industrial Co., Ltd. was BO109023, the content of free or partially hydrolyzed formaldehyde was not qualified.

According to introduction, formaldehyde endangering human health and violating human nervous system. If you wear formaldehyde over standard for a long time, with the friction between shoes and human skin, free formaldehyde will permeate or volatilize, which may lead to chronic diseases such as upper respiratory tract and digestive system. In this test, the measured value of free formaldehyde content in "BOBDOG Babu" children's shoes is far more than the national standard.

In November 2nd, the Wenzhou industrial and commercial bureau announced the results of the special quality inspection of leather shoes products in the third quarter of the whole city. Among the 95 batches of the samples, 35 batches of samples were unqualified, accounting for 37%. Among them, there are 11 batches of unqualified internal quality, and 24 batches of unqualified ones. In the unqualified list, there are many world famous brand figures. {page_break}

The sampling samples were mainly from commercial streets and individual department stores. The national footwear quality supervision and Inspection Center (Wenzhou) took the inspection work as an introduction to the industry and commerce personnel. After examination, it was found that some brands of shoes did not mark the existing Chinese shoes numbers. The unqualified brands were GUESS, 3A, and van ghee; in the "hook bending steel degree and hook hardness", MARIN, the goddess of taste and Fred Pi shoes had problems. It is understood that the steel hook of the shoe is located between the outer part of the leather sole and the outer middle bottom, which plays a role of "big beam" to support and maintain the overall shape of the shoe, while the bending stiffness of the hook core is a very important safety index. The unqualified hook will cause the whole leather shoes to change shape, wear unsteadily, and even badly sprain and fall down. Especially in high-heeled shoes, the hidden danger of personal safety is even more prominent.

Industrial and commercial personnel analysis, the reason for quality problems is that the production enterprises do not pay attention to product standards and shopping mall stock inspection system is not perfect, dealers lack of legal concepts, the product is not the most basic checks, backward inspection methods.

At the same time, the state's requirements for the quality and safety of footwear products are gradually improving, constantly improving and perfecting relevant standards, and increasing supervision and spot checks. For example, Guangdong has recently implemented the "sit in" rule of footwear sampling inspection, that is, a commodity has problems. It is not only the same batch of goods that need to be recalled, but also all batches of goods with the same commodity. In August this year, 120 samples of footwear products from 5 cities in Guangdong were disqualified, and 48 of them were only defective products.

　　 Export shoe enterprises call for third party certification

With the increase of various kinds of functional footwear, market demand for suppliers is also higher and higher. Detection ability has gradually become a major obstacle to its development. Many brands have begun to call for the construction or introduction of high-end professional third party testing institutions, which will help the sports industry develop faster.

Not long ago, Anta set up or introduced a professional third party inspection agency on the desktop at the Fujian provincial economic and Trade Commission's Jinjiang Research Association. Many enterprises responded. Anta representative said that although Anta had its own laboratory in 2005, it still could not do all its own testing. "This not only requires manpower, material and financial resources, but also takes time, so that suppliers can use their own testing equipment to detect some of their products." The representative of Anta reluctantly said. However, at present, the situation in Jinjiang is that not all suppliers have the ability or willingness to purchase advanced international testing equipment, and even many suppliers do not have the configuration of testing equipment at all. This brings obstacles to the upgrading of many products enterprises.

Reporters learned from the national footwear inspection center that the sports industry in Jinjiang has not been taken seriously in testing, although some excellent suppliers have purchased some of their testing equipment, but after all, they are numbered. According to Zhang Yuhui, manager of marketing department of the testing center, there are many sporting goods companies in Jinjiang, but there are not many enterprises with qualified scale. Therefore, on the one hand, many finished shoe enterprises have not yet attached importance to quality control, especially in the small and medium enterprises in the domestic market. They have even saved the inspection. On the other hand, the suppliers' capabilities are limited. A single variety testing equipment is often priced at millions of dollars. It is also very difficult for them to set up their own laboratories to match the testing equipment.

"If they are export oriented enterprises, whether they are suppliers or subcontracting enterprises, they themselves do not have the right to speak, nor do they need it." Zhang Yuhui told reporters that the domestic OEM enterprises usually only accept the designated suppliers, designated materials and designated third party inspection agencies to do the sample processing. At the same time, most of the testing agencies in the country and even the official testing institutions can not get the trust of foreign businessmen, which makes the third party testing organizations in China difficult to survive. According to the introduction, most of the third party inspection organizations currently accepted by most export enterprises in Jinjiang are usually from some well-known international inspection organizations in Europe, and only by testing the reports of these organizations can they gain the trust of foreign businessmen. {page_break}

In addition, the small and medium-sized enterprises in the domestic market do not keep up with the laws and regulations, nor do they have the right to speak independently. Zhang Yuhui told reporters that even if it is a brand enterprise, it can only do incoming and outgoing testing, although the production process has QC, but it is still difficult to fully detect in place. It is worth mentioning that most enterprises can only do physical testing, and chemical toxic and harmful substances are still difficult to control. And the national testing standards are lagging behind, which leads to the slow pace of the whole industry chain.

"There are more and more subdivision products in the footwear market, and the requirements for R & D design of suppliers are getting higher and higher. However, the quality of materials supplied by suppliers is difficult to be unified. The same shoe may be supplied by several suppliers with different materials, and the quality of the product can hardly be guaranteed. " Li Cheng, director of R & D center of Jinjiang Cheng Chang shoe industry Co., Ltd., told reporters that suppliers are usually tested according to different requirements of different manufacturers. If there are some professional third party testing organizations and the formulation standards of more materials, it is believed that there will be better promotion standards for the upgrading of footwear industry.

According to Zhang Yuhui, although Jinjiang has no international top third party testing agency to enter, the government has gradually opened the footwear inspection center. Recently, it has spent a lot of money to buy many kinds of footwear inspection equipment. The famous companies such as del Hui and PEAK have begun to use the testing center equipment step by step.

In addition, Zhang Yuhui suggested that in the international arena, if we can combine the strength of the government and trade associations and negotiate with foreign businessmen in the name of the association, we will not only enhance their own voice, but also enable them to recognize the testing reports of the third party testing institutions in the country, so that the testing can be carried out locally. "In this way, on the one hand, we can reduce the testing links and time of products, so that products will not lag behind in the market because of the long cycle, but also promote and upgrade the industrial chain. In addition, it is suggested that local governments should gradually formulate relevant technical regulations and standards, and recommend enterprises to use them, which will greatly promote the whole industry in the international forefront. Especially in the formulation of functional standards, it has a positive effect on the design innovation of the industry. "

　 International famous third party certification company recommendation

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TUV TUVSUD has been doing business in China for nearly 20 years. So far, it has provided more than 10000 customers with corresponding services. "Authoritative certification, value creation" is the core concept of TUV South Deutsche group's service.