Key Audit Deadlines for Chinese New Year 2020

What’s happening?

The Ethical Toy Program understands that as the Chinese New Year approaches, most factories located in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan will temporarily cease production as they close for the festive period and many workers take holiday to reunite with family back in their hometowns.

In order to allow time for Chinese New Year 2020 celebrations, the Ethical Toy Program will instruct our accredited firms to not conduct audits or Progress Visits between January 13th, 2020 through February 16th, 2020  (2 weeks prior to and 2 weeks after Chinese New Year).

Please note that these arrangements only apply to factories located in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Audit and Progress Visit arrangements for other parts of the world will be unaffected.

What do I need to do?

We ask all factories located in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to please pay attention to the following dates:

• Last audit/PV date before Chinese New Year: 10th January 2020 (Fri)
• First audit/PV date after Chinese New Year: 17th February 2020 (Mon)

Will this affect my certification?

Initial Annual Audits (IAA) will be conducted 2 months after the completion of the application process*. We encourage factories to pay attention to the expiry date of their certification and start the application process in advance, if not the certification might expire during the period in which we are not conducting audits.

*Completed application process means the registration has been verified by the Ethical Toy Program and the factory has settled the audit fee to the assigned audit firm.

Should you have any questions, please contact us at (+852) 2111-2462 or via info@ethicaltoyprogram.org.