Issue 44/2015 - New EU toy safety measures implemented at the end of this year

The EU Toy Safety Commission has recently amended the Toy Safety Directive (Directive 2009/48/EC).

The revised directive limits the concentration of five types of chemicals, including methylchloroisothiazolinone
, in toys intended for use by children under 36 months of age and other toys that may be ingested by children.

The largest revision is a component of preservatives in water quality toys such as hobby pigments and finger paints, and formamide
, which is often used in various foaming toys such as jigsaw puzzle toys.
These chemicals are major allergens for
consumer exposure.
The revised directive will refer to the European standards EN 71-10:2005 and EN 71-11:2005, requiring the concentration limit of BIT components of preservatives in water quality toy materials to be 5 mg/kg; In terms of weight, the formamide content of foamed toy materials exceeding 200 mg/kg has a formamide emission limit of 20 micrograms/cubic meter
after a maximum of 28 days of emission testing.
The new toy safety measures will come into effect at the end of 2015, with a transition period to help the industry adapt to the new measures
.
(Pang Xiaohua)