February 18, 2010

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) recently hosted representatives from Asia, Europe, and the United States to discuss the alignment of global standards for toy safety. 

The Open Dialogue on Toy Safety for All Stakeholders, which convened in Hong Kong on January 12, 2010, focused on problems caused by differing toy safety standards around the globe and on methods that might be used to promote standards alignment.  Keynote speakers included the top governmental consumer product regulators from Asia, Europe, and the United States.  Recommendations were made to facilitate communication and cooperation amongst regulators, standards bodies, the toy industry, consumers, and the APEC Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformity. 

APEC is a cooperative, multilateral economic and trade forum consisting of the governments of 21 "Pacific Rim" nations committed to reducing barriers to trade and investment without requiring legally binding treaty obligations.  It is highly unusual for APEC to include representatives from non-Pacific Rim nations in its conferences, but it made an exception for the Hong Kong event given the importance of the subject.