(Yicai Global) May 9 -- The China Light Industry Association plans to accelerate the formulation of mandatory national standards for consumer goods to improve product safety and catch up with the rest of the world.

The standards will cover home appliances, lighting, toys and clocks and watches, state-owned news agency Xinhua cited Chairman Zhang Chonghe as saying in Beijing yesterday at the National Conference on Quality Standards for the Light Industry.

"With a focus on making quality standards more adaptive and safe, the association will make concrete efforts to keep them updated and stay tuned with global practice," he added, saying domestic standards are dated and unable to meet modern demands in the rising consumer sector, and quality inspection agencies need to step up and form clear market positions.

The average age of standards set in China's light manufacturing industry are more than seven years old on average, Zhang added, saying 15 percent of them took effect more than 10 years ago and are not on par with global standards. He hopes 95 percent of domestic standards will conform to international benchmarks by the end of this year.

Editor: James Boynton