According to news reported at Nanyang Siang Pau, Malaysia Foodstuff and Toys Merchants’ Association has urged the government to postpone the enforcement date of safety requirements from February. This has alarmed the consumer on the safety issue.

The reason given by the association is that they still have few million in stock of toys that have no Malaysian Conformity (MC) label. The enforcement date has been postponed from last year to this year, and each time the reason given is be the same, that there has been a lot of uncleared stock.

This means toys that might not meet the guidelines and this could pose a danger to children. If the unlabelled toys keep selling in the market, how is the safety of children to be ensured?

                                

It is not fair to allow consumers to buy those unlabelled toys, because their quality and safety cannot be ensured by them, and if injury happens, who then will bear the cost? Who will be responsible for any accidents?

We are educating consumers to choose toys that carry the MC label, but if we allow the present practice, consumers will ask which toys they should buy, and why toys without MC labels are still sold in market.

The government has confirmed that they will not compromise anymore on this matter as the toy manufacturers and importers have been given ample time - more than a year - to adhere to the safety standards for toys by requiring the MC label on each toy produced ( The Sun , Dec 20 2010).

Toy manufacturers and importers should just comply with the government order and should not ask for any more extensions of the enforcement date. There is the alternative of recycling the unlabelled stock.

The department of standards has developed the Malaysian standards for toys. The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism has tried to enforce the mandatory standard.

Consumers have waited long to see the standards implemented. Therefore, do not disappoint the consumers again.

Sam Wong Chin Kah is a member of the Malaysian Association of Standards Users