The Chinese government is making an environment-friendly standards for its electronic products in a bid to reduce electronic pollution and facilitate exports, an official with the Ministry of Information Industry said at a national conference Tuesday.

The manufacturing capacity of China's electronic industry was US$428.7 billion at the end of 2005, ranking the second in the world. The export of such products in 2005 exceeded US$260 billion, accounting for 35.2 percent of the country’s total export and 25 percent of global electronic trade.

However, due to weak awareness and low investment in environment-friendly products, domestic electronic manufacturers face environment barrier in exports.

Starting July this year, the European Union (EU) will close its door to electronic products containing certain poisonous materials. "That would be a hard blow to Chinese manufacturers," said the official who asked not be identified.

In fact, Chinese companies have begun to pay for exporting their electronic products harmful to the environment.

Ten categories of electronic products including home appliances and telecommunications tools have been charged with recycling fees when exported to the EU from August 13, 2003.

"Worldwide requirement for environmental protection has turned into costs for manufacturers," said the official.

China has enacted its first set of regulations controlling pollution caused by electronic products. The regulations, to take effect on March 1 next year, demand that all electronic products meet environment-friendly standards.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2006)