Following pressure from Chinese quality officials, Sweden-based furniture retailer IKEA will recall its Malm chests of drawers and dressers in the Chinese market.
Experts said the move is a warning to foreign enterprises not to follow "double standards" when it comes to quality issues in China.
According to a statement posted on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), starting from Tuesday, about 1.66 million IKEA chests and dressers of multiple sizes that were sold in China from 1999 to 2016 will be recalled.
The AQSIQ and the China Consumer Association held talks with IKEA over the weekend, during which they urged the company to take action.
In the U.S. and Canada, the company announced plans in June to recall nearly 36 million chests and dressers of its Malm line, which were found to be prone to topple over and crush toddlers if not anchored to the wall. Those items have been linked to the deaths of six children, according to a statement posted last week on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website.
China was previously excluded from the recall plan. IKEA said last week that the chests and dressers conformed with China's local regulations and standards and had not caused any injuries in China.
IKEA's perceived double standards when it comes to the Chinese and North American markets led to an outcry from Chinese consumers.
To appease the public, IKEA announced a compromise on Thursday, described by domestic media as a "conditional return." The company said it would provide free screw sets for attaching the furniture items to the wall, with free home installation service on request. Furthermore, if consumers were unable to safely affix their furniture to the wall, they were able to return the items for a full refund, a post from the Shenzhen Consumer Council on Thursday noted.
Media reports suggested that the measures were merely modifications of the company's existing policies, which to date have proven ineffective, as consumers in certain cities either need to pick up the replacement screws themselves at IKEA stores or pay a separate fee for professional installation, the Xinhua News Agency reported Monday, citing local news reports.
Qiu Baochang, a partner at the Beijing-based Huijia Law Firm, compared IKEA's recent moves to the manner in which toothpaste comes from the tube only when it is squeezed.
"IKEA's action comes only after relevant government bodies got involved in the matter. The company is trying its best to avoid the cost of recalling this potentially fatal furniture," Qiu told the Global Times Tuesday, criticizing IKEA for failing to take responsibility for its products and its unfair treatment of Chinese consumers.
The company's initial stance has taken a toll on its reputation. A survey by domestic news portal sina.com found that more than half of the respondents said they'd lost trust in IKEA.
Experts noted that IKEA's case isn't unique. Some foreign brands have applied "double standards" in the Chinese market in the face of quality-related global recalls.
Global food and drug manufactures Johnson & Johnson has conducted 51 global product recalls since 2005, but China has been excluded 48 times, according to the People's Daily, which cited local media.
In October 2015, Japanese automobile giant Toyota recalled 6.5 million vehicles in North America, Europe and Japan for a defect in the power window switch, but the global recall was not extended to China.
Zhao Ping, the director at the global trade research institute of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, noted that IKEA's case serves as a warning to foreign brands.
"This is a milestone event for Chinese consumers. Foreign enterprises will realize implementing double standards in China won't work, as Chinese authorities are strengthening supervision over quality issues." Zhao said.
But she also pointed out that the root cause of this phenomenon is the absence of relevant laws in China specifically governing product recalls and regulators' inexperience in enforcing the laws that are in effect.
"Chinese regulators still need to improve in those two fields," Zhao noted.
