China’s AliExpress carries excessive hazardous substances in kids goods: S. Korea

Seoul, Aug 28: Children's bicycles, skates and sunglasses sold in South Korea by Chinese online platform AliExpress have been found to contain a hazardous substance exceeding the country’s standard by about 260 times, the Seoul city government said on Wednesday.

The city government said it has conducted a safety examination on 16 kinds of children's products sold on AliExpress, such as inline skates, kickboards, bicycles, glasses, and sunglasses, and half of them were found to contain hazardous substances exceeding domestic standards or were not durable enough, Yonhap news agency reported.

An inspection of two child bike models from the Chinese platform found that the seat from one of them contained phthalate plasticisers exceeding the allowable level by 258 times, the government noted.

Phthalate plasticisers are endocrine disruptors that can affect reproductive function and cause eye or skin irritation upon contact.

In the other bike product, the level of phthalate plasticizers exceeded the domestic standards by 240 times, while about 1.5 times the permissible level of lead was detected in the plastic part of the bell, it added.

In addition, two models of inline skates were found to contain excessive amounts of phthalate plasticisers and cracked and broke during performance tests, the city government said.

The number of complaints by South Korean users about the products and services on the Chinese platforms has soared recently.

Given this, the South Korean antitrust regulator Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in May signed agreements with the Chinese retail platforms AliExpress and Temu meant to prevent them from selling harmful products and to better protect consumers.

The move came as the customs agency found that some of the products sold on AliExpress, owned by Alibaba, and Temu contained high levels of carcinogens and other harmful substances, the FTC said.