Richard O'Brien, a director at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, said despite the overall positive response to the United States' new toy safety requirements, Chinese manufacturers have voiced concerns about their cost implications.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act 2008, to be phased in this year, requires toy makers to have certain products tested and certified in accredited laboratories.

"(Toy makers) have told us repeatedly that there were cost issues they were concerned about. We are trying to take them into consideration to the extent that we have a flexibility," he said, after speaking to the manufacturers at a toys fair held in Hong Kong this week.

O'Brien said while the commission was looking for the most cost-effective means for compliance, safety would always be its priority.

"It is true that compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act 2008 links with it additional cost. But I have not yet heard a producer say that they think that financial issues are more important than product safety."

Liu Xiang, vice director of China's Defective Product Administrative Centre, said at the fair that the new safety rules must be followed despite the current financial challenges.

New laws have been introduced by overseas importers of Chinese toys after millions of Chinese goods were recalled globally in 2007 amid fears that they had been made with toxic lead paints or dangerous design flaws.

The financial crisis has pushed many Chinese toy makers further towards the brink of closure amid dwindling demand from the hardest-hit Western economies.

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