Lost standards

Pan Wei, director in charge of consumer rights protection at the ZJAIC, explained the reason why ZJAIC did a sample quality inspection of foreign brands.

"On the one hand, some consumers have complained to the local consumers' association about the famous foreign brands," he said. "On the other hand, the end of the one-year transitional period for the National General Safety Technical Code for Textile Products, which took effect on January 1, 2005, means that the administration of industry and commerce can examine the quality of textiles sold in the market in accordance with the set standards."

For a long period of time, there were no quality inspection standards for textiles and clothing. After the National Textile Standard took effect, Zhejiang Province wanted to try out this standard and was curious to see what would happen. However, they did not expect foreign brands would have encountered such quality problems.

One thing is particularly embarrassing. The domestic standards, which were actually derived from relevant standards of the European Union (EU), are much looser than the latter. Those brands which have been exposed as having quality problems in China are, surprisingly, doing just fine in the European market.

"It is hard to say if those brands discriminate against our consumers," commented Pan, who noted that those that are popular in Europe shouldn't have such problems in China. Then what caused the quality crisis? And who caused it?

Some experts argued that when questioning foreign quality, Chinese should remember their own countrymen are at least partly responsible.

Zhao of Zhejiang University revealed that in some places, supervisory departments are very relaxed when it comes to foreign brands and give them the green light easily. Further, quality inspection, supervision and punishment related to foreign brands are not in line with the international practice. Moreover, multinational companies apply different standards to products exported to developed countries than those to developing countries.

It is obvious that with the absence of a unified standard, it would be hard for supervisory departments to play their due function. However, the application of the National Textile Standard exposes a pile of problems of foreign brands.

He Xiaoming, an official in charge of consumer rights protection with ZJAIC, pointed out that in order to reject the influx of faulty products, the introduction of an industry standard is a must.

"Compared with developed countries, China is still lagging behind in terms of industry standards," He said. "For instance, the EU has set a standard about the toxic substances in shoes, but China hasn't had such a compulsory standard."

He continued: "Industry standard is an important measure to protect a nation in international trade."

He explained that the former trade barrier built on tariffs may disappear and be replaced by technical barriers and relevant technical standards.

In recent years, EU nations and the United States frequently manipulated technical barriers to China's products, and Japan has also enacted some restrictions to China's agricultural products. However, due to China's lack of relevant technical standards, its exporting enterprises are suffering and some disqualified foreign products have been able to gain access to the country without any interference.

But will the new frustrations of foreign brands create an opportunity for domestic brands?

Fan Xiaoping, marketing professor with Zhejiang University, pointed out that local brands are endowed with certain territorial advantages when expanding local markets. He suggested local brands bring these advantages into full play to create strong brands.

In the meantime, domestic manufacturers should overcome their shortcomings by learning from the strong points of others and establish their own brand recognition in the international market.

"Currently, in order to grab a foothold in the fierce international market, Chinese enterprises must invest heavily in research and development," Zhao Wei said.