Italy slams Chinese presses for lack of safety

According to a survey conducted by the Italian government, 90% of the plastics and rubber machinery imported from China does not meet European safety standards, so the government may increase its review of Chinese machinery.

Last year, with the support of Assocomaplast, the Italian Association of Plastics and Rubber Processing Machinery, the Italian government conducted investigations on about 100 Chinese-made plastic machines imported from the country and found that "nearly all machines are unsafe," and its headquarters are in Milan, Italy. Asocomaplast's secretary-general, Claudio Celata, stated at the safety seminar held at the Chinaplas International Plastics and Rubber Industry Exhibition in the same period.

Celata, who is also head of a standards committee for plastics and rubber machinery in Europe, said that among these safety-critical machines, some are serious problems that require the machine to be returned to China, accounting for about 10%, and the rest are within a few weeks. The smaller problem solved locally, the machines were delivered to Italian customers after they were trimmed.

At the May 19th meeting, he said: “I would like to explain to Chinese exporters here that from a technical point of view, even if the export machines are very inexpensive and their performance is very efficient, if safety is not guaranteed, There will be great risks."

An official from China’s industry safety standards agency acknowledged that some of China’s exports did not meet European standards, but he told participants that domestic companies have made great efforts in recent years to improve industry safety standards and minimize The gap with other countries.

According to Xia Xiangxiu, the general secretary of the National Rubber and Plastics Machinery Standardization Technical Committee headquartered in Beijing, in some cases, China's industry has developed too fast and the corresponding industry standards have not been established yet.

She said: “Although we have already established some standards, it will take time to implement and popularize it effectively.” She pointed out that there are currently more than 200 different types of plastic and rubber machines on the market. "China's plastics and rubber machinery industry started very late, and development speed is particularly fast... We also have to establish a whole set of safety standards system in the country in the future."

She said that improving the safety performance of domestic machinery and equipment (including plastic machinery) is an important goal of the domestic industry. She pointed out that one of the challenges is that there are many plastic and rubber machines that use imported foreign parts. Many people do not fully understand these parts.

Since 2006, China has formulated 13 national standards for plastics and rubber equipment, including injection molding and extrusion, but it still lacks clear standards in some areas where significant risks exist, such as waste plastics processing equipment.

The chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, headquartered in Beijing, Liao Mingzheng said at the meeting that although some Chinese factories do not meet international standards in terms of safety, he expects that as China’s labor costs rise and labor shortages increase, it will prompt The entire industry has increased its focus on safety.

He said: "We are doing our utmost to take relevant measures to maximize industry standards. We have fully recognized the gap between us and other countries."

Xia Xiangxiu and Celata, who was the chairman of the European Committee for Standardization of Plastics and Rubber Machinery (CEN/TC145) at the time, said that Chinese and European companies hope to strengthen their cooperation and jointly establish a more uniform security standard.

Celata said at the meeting that he believes that Chinese-made equipment is increasingly safer: "As far as I know, Chinese companies have made rapid progress in recent years. I firmly believe that we must be able to live a safe life."

He said: "I know that Chinese authorities attach great importance to safety. I hope that the standardization process and inspections conducted by officials of [China's] health and safety agencies can help Chinese companies understand the truth. They cannot produce two kinds of machines with double standards." One is a very safe machine that is exported to Europe, and the other is a less secure machine that supplies the country."

He said: "In the future, we should produce safe and secure machines of the same kind for all people in the world."

He said Assocomaplast and government officials began investigations into imported machinery in China in 2007. At that time, about 10 machines were inspected. Since then, the number of machines under inspection has gradually increased.

He said that Assocomaplast provided financial support for government inspections because such inspections are much more troublesome than ordinary consumer products. He said that the main inspection target was the injection molding machine.

Celata said in an interview after speaking at the meeting that such inspections have so far mainly focused on machines imported from China because “we have very few injection molding machines imported from other countries. China is a major supplier.”

He said that the number of machines imported from China has been climbing.

He said: “We are worried because the current trend is that the potential of Chinese manufacturers is very large, and they are very competitive in terms of productivity.”

Italy has always been one of the world's largest plastics machinery markets, but in recent years, with the rise of plastics machinery manufacturers in mainland China and Taiwan, Italian domestic companies are facing severe challenges.

He said that the inspection does not mean that Assocomaplast's equipment production member companies try to establish non-tariff barriers to Chinese imports of machines: "If European regulations require that workplaces meet safety standards, machines imported into Europe should meet this requirement."

He said that the tricky trend now is that at least one Chinese company that exports equipment to Italy has managed to transport products into the European Union through ports in other European countries to avoid the more stringent machine inspections in Italy.

It is not yet clear whether other EU countries have adopted a similar security censorship system as Italy, but it can be seen from Celata's words that most countries do not do so.

Celata said that all machines that failed the inspection (along with its manufacturer) were entered into a database shared by all the EU governments to remind each other of possible security risks.

Celata also stated that some untested Chinese machines carry the CE mark, and the manufacturers claim that such machines have reached all European standards.