28/07/09 | Single market

Playing safe with toy safety

There are around 80 million children under 14 in the EU. Toys and games are vital tools for their development. They enable children to have fun, learn to use their fingers, their brains, their senses, stretch their imaginations, and learn to share and play with siblings and friends. But parents need to have confidence in the safety of the toys with which their children play.

Toy sales in 2007 amounted to over €14 billion. More than 80%, by value, of toys purchased in the European Union are imported, of which more than 97% are from Asia. Whilst manufacturers are responsible for the safety of their products, importers, notified bodies and national authorities each have a role to play in ensuring the toys which are sold in Europe's shops fulfil all safety requirements.

The range of toys develops fast, with children keen to pick up new trends and set or follow fashion. And even if many new toys are recognisable to today's parents and grandparents from their own youth, new materials and manufacturing processes mean there are greater differences than are immediately apparent. Ensuring safety requirements and standards keep up with the latest trends in toys is therefore vital for children's welfare.

Harmonisation

The European Commission has been active in setting high safety requirements for toys for more than two decades, emphasising the need to protect children. In 1988, the Toys Safety Directive was adopted, setting harmonised safety requirements for all toys on sale in the then 12 Member States. Directive 88/378/EEC was one of the first so-called New Approach directives; setting out minimum safety requirements but leaving it to industry, through the European Standardisation Bodies, to agree detailed technical standards for how each type of product should meet them. This approach is particularly appropriate for the toys sector, since the detailed standards can be updated more rapidly to take account of developments of new types of product and applications. The Commission maintains a list of all harmonised standards applicable to toys under the Directive.

Although it had been revised in 1993, the Commission recognised the need for a comprehensive update, and a new Toys Safety Directive [994 KB] entered into force on 20 July 2009. Whilst the Directive has worked well, there were a number of modifications needed. In particular, safety issues that were unknown 20 years ago needed to be addressed. The means of enforcing the rules across the Union needed to be updated and made more coherent. And the Directive needed to be made consistent with EU legislation in other areas, including the general framework for trading goods in the Single Market which has recently been updated.

Improved protection

The new Directive introduces several provisions on chemical substances in toys, consistent with the recent REACH Regulation which governs the use of chemicals in the Single Market. A general ban is introduced on carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances in toys, other than for low concentrations of specific substances which have previously been permitted by legislation. In certain cases, where no alternative substance is available, the Directive provides for a scientific assessment process to authorise the use of such CMR substances.

A number of fragrances and substances which provoke allergies are now prohibited from use in toys. A further set of such substances and fragrances may only be used when appropriate warnings are included on the packaging.

Rules for toys in food are introduced, such that toys which cannot be accessed without consuming the food itself are banned. Toys must be packaged so that they are separated from the food, and that packaging should present no choking hazard.

The new Directive strengthens the rules on choking to cover small parts in toys intended to be put in the mouth, for example, musical instruments intended for older children. Strengthened rules on suffocation hazards will apply to all toys, not just those intended for young children (under 36 months).

Warning messages, such as minimum or maximum ages for use, are to be made more apparent. In particular, prospective purchasers should be able to see all relevant warnings easily, to help them decide whether a product is appropriate for the child concerned before buying.

Better enforcement

The new Directive increases the powers available to Member States' market surveillance authorities to check that products on the market meet the required safety standards. Moreover, national authorities are obliged to co-operate with counterparts in other Member States and with the Commission and EU agencies. The contents of the documentation which manufacturers and importers are required to make available to national authorities has been updated, in particular to include information on components and materials in the toy. In addition, the file should include a safety assessment of potential hazards the toy may present, in order that more systematic risk assessment can be carried out. Finally, the new Directive aligns the provisions on conformity assessment, the bodies which carry out this task, and market surveillance with the revised rules applicable to all sectors covered by the New Approach, to ensure consistency.

The new Directive includes a lengthened list of products and product types which are not covered by its provisions, such as video games, and adds new definitions for new products and hazards which are addressed by the Directive.

The text only of the articles can be republished as long as the source of the article is quoted: Enterprise & Industry magazine (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/magazine/index_en.htm), © European Union, 2008 - 2012