(BEIJING) - China needs to spend more on product safety and become better at tracing problem goods back to the plant where they were manufactured, the EU commissioner on consumer products said Wednesday.

"I think that the Chinese producers are facing a new ... stage. They need to invest in safety," Meglena Kuneva told reporters on Wednesday.

The "Made-in-China" brand was gravely tainted after millions of Chinese export items ranging from toys to pet food were recalled globally in 2007 due to safety concerns.

Improvements have been made since last year as Chinese authorities have taken broader actions to tighten safety controls, Kuneva said.

But the ability to track down dangerous goods remains one of the points to be improved, she added.

"The traceability is a problem as well," she said. "How we tackle this problem is the core of ... the next memorandum which will be signed before the end of the year."

China was unable to take any measures against 27 percent of product safety alerts delivered by Europe from 2006 to February 2008 because the manufacturers could not be traced, according to an earlier report by the European Commission.

The two sides will upgrade the existing memorandum of understanding governing EU-China product safety and sign a revised and strengthened agreement in autumn this year.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.