On Tuesday, the chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Elliot Kaye, spoke at the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair to announce that Alibaba Holdings will stop up to 15 illegal or dangerous toys reaching the retail shelves of the U.S.
In one of the world's largest Western marketplaces, where approximately 90 percent of toy imports are sourced from China, the CPSC will identify between five and 15 children's toys so that Alibaba, the world's largest e-commerce company, can enact the slated ban.
The e-commerce giant's corporate affairs executive, Jim Wilkinson, responded to the commission's action in a statement, saying that Alibaba will proceed "collaboratively with the chairman and his team to do everything possible to protect consumers."
At the time of the news, other foreign e-commerce entities, including China's JD.com Inc., had not yet been contacted by the CPSC about the issue.
However, criticism was raised after Tuesday's announcement. Chief executive of China-based consumer watchdog body Mingjian, James Feldkamp, spoke to the media about major enforcement challenges that hampered the effective monitoring of such processes:
"Alibaba has talked about getting all the defective stuff off (e-commerce platform) Taobao and that's likely a claim which is way bigger than is possible to be implemented."
Feldkamp also highlighted the beneficial publicity that Jack Ma's corporation will most likely garner from the move, saying that Alibaba is conveying to American consumers that it is "another legitimate channel" that is not seeking to "flood the U.S. with a bunch of counterfeit garbage."
The bulk of the e-commerce business overseen by Alibaba is currently more substantial than the combined output of U.S. companies Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. On the domestic front, Alibaba controls up to 80 percent of the Chinese e-commerce sector.