Recalls of Chinese made consumer goods in the UK jumped another 19% in the last year (to Oct 31 2009) to 63 up from 53 in the previous year, reveals annual research by law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP (RPC).

The number of consumer goods product recalls in the UK (excluding food and drink and pharmaceuticals) jumped another 10% in the last year from 120 to 132. However, a sudden drop in recalls over the last year involving the food and drink sector means that total product recalls have dropped to 205 from 227 in the previous year.

RPC says that, despite campaigns by the Chinese authorities, the comparatively low production standards of some Chinese goods entering the UK market continues to be a major trigger of health and safety alerts. British businesses that outsource production to overseas suppliers face an obvious geographical and cultural challenge when they seek to supervise the manufacturers and subcontractors they use.

Says Stuart White, partner, at RPC: “Since the melamine milk scandal broke, China has made bigger efforts to improve safety standards but they are clearly not finding it easy.”

“The continued growth in the number of recalls shows that the problem with standards in Chinese factories has not gone away.”

“This is a major issue for UK and European companies as they are becoming increasingly reliant on China as their workshop – their business plans do not allow them to bring production back to the EU.”

“Unfortunately, as things stand, more consumer goods coming from China means more companies will have to undertake expensive recalls.”

Food recalls down

An unexpected drop in food-related recalls (down 40% from 88 to 53) has led to an overall 10% decline in product recalls.

RPC says that the decline in product recalls is either caused by a sudden improvement in quality control or from financial pressures stemming from the recession which might have discouraged businesses from making product recalls when the likelihood of a health and safety issue is negligible.

RPC explains that in the past a company that was heavily focused on its reputation might undertake a recall even where the risks to health and safety were virtually non-existent. With the economic environment now more challenging businesses might be slightly less willing to undertake recalls if the health and safety advice they receive suggests it is not necessary.

Stuart White comments: “Typically, businesses will always conduct a recall if they believe it is in the customer’s best interests or if health and safety concerns arise. But when the decision to issue a recall is less clear cut, the recession may have had a slight dampening effect on whether a company goes to the huge expense of a full-scale recall.”

High profile companies who have recently attracted criticism for the speed at which their product recalls have been executed over the last year include Maclaren and Toyota.

Stuart White adds: “In the US, lawyers are launching expensive litigation based on the premise that it took Toyota too long to deal with the problems despite high profile incidents involving their cars and that a quicker response would have averted more accidents.”

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