...Italian Health Minister Francesco Storace said that imported China-mad...
FONTE: www.observer.guardian.co.uk
Italian Health Minister Francesco Storace said that imported China-made shoes would be subjected to health tests to check for toxic chemicals and he accused Chinese manufacturers of flouting European consumer safety regulations.
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"The majority of Chinese products don't seem to conform to any regulations," Storace told Italian newspaper Il Messagero on Monday.
Storace said that samples of shoe imports from China had been seized in Italian ports on December 15 owing to concern that they contained potentially dangerous chemicals in concentrations above limits set out in EU regulations.
He said that Italian shoe makers had alerted him to possible dangers posed by dyes used by Chinese manufacturers and said that controls would continue "for six months".
Referring to a 700-percent increase in imports from China in the past two years, he said: "It is obvious that when there is such a significant increase we need to avoid a situation in which health norms are not respected."
He said that results of the first tests on the Chinese shoes would be known in the next month and said that other products should be targeted.
No specific health risks were mentioned by the minister, but Italy's association of shoe manufacturers said that shoes from China contained levels of nickel four times higher than limits allowed under EU law.
Italy's shoe industry, which employs 150,000 people, has been hit hard by a surge in imports of China-made products this year.
Trade restrictions on textile imports to Europe were removed at the beginning of the year, allowing Chinese manufacturers greater access to the European market.
The issue sparked a trade row with China after the European Commission re-imposed quotas on Chinese imports in June in response to demands from EU states, including Italy, that European textile companies be protected.
