Chinese consumers require IKEA recall
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E-mail CRI, July 4, 2016
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| People queue to enter the IKEA shopping mall in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, June 25, 2015. The first IKEA shopping mall opened here on Thursday, which is the 17th IKEA, the world-renowned furniture retailer, opened in China. [Photo/Xinhua] |
![People queue to enter the IKEA shopping mall in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, June 25, 2015. The first IKEA shopping mall opened here on Thursday, which is the 17th IKEA, the world-renowned furniture retailer, opened in China. [Photo/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20160704/b8aeed99045618e3f02e18.jpg "People queue to enter the IKEA shopping mall in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, June 25, 2015. The first IKEA shopping mall opened here on Thursday, which is the 17th IKEA, the world-renowned furniture retailer, opened in China. [Photo/Xinhua]")
Many Chinese consumers are complaining over Swedish furniture maker IKEA's decision to exclude the Chinese market from a massive recall plan.
But the manufacturer says a recall is not necessary in China as the product in question meets all design standards in the country.
While more than 35 million dressers are being recalled from North America, the very same IKEA model is still being sold in Guangzhou.
The recall was launched after six children in the United States and Canada lost their lives in tipping and entrapment incidents associated with the dressers.
But consumers in China and Europe are not in the plan.
Xiang Li, marketing manager of the company's branch in Guangzhou, explains why.
"This model is sold not only in China, but also in other regions outside the United States. It's also sold in European Union countries. This product meets the mandatory safety requirements of EU and our country."
Installation instructions on how to attach chests of drawers and dressers to the walls are seen in IKEA's Guangzhou store.
The manager says the installation accessories are included when purchasing the product.
She strongly urges consumers to follow the proposed steps during assembly.
"If one follows the instruction to install the product, it's safe. In fact, our packaging specification repeatedly emphasizes the steps of anchoring. If required by the consumers, we will resort to a third party to provide them with paid installation services."
But such precaution is not enough to calm down local consumers.
"They should use larger labels to remind parents because many of them can't be aware of such a problem."
In North America, the recall covers chests of drawers and dressers which do not meet the performance requirements of the U.S. voluntary industry standards.
The company is offering a full or partial refund between 70 and 200 U.S. dollars on chests of drawers and dressers sold from 2002 through last month.
So far, the municipal Consumer Council in Shenzhen has appealed to IKEA to extend the same recall to China.
It argues that IKEA should not discriminate against Chinese consumers.
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