The Council has given its final approval on the EU’s toy safety regulation, legislation to reinforce safety rules, increase protection against harmful chemicals and promote the use of digital product passports to facilitate enforcement.
The new toy safety regulation bans or restricts the use in toys of several dangerous chemical substances, including endocrine disruptors, skin sensitisers, biocidal products, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Toy safety has been regulated by directive 2009/48/EC, which establishes the safety requirements that toys, both EU-made or imported, must meet to be placed and sold in the EU. The new regulation is in line with the EU chemicals strategy for sustainability that called for strengthening the protection of consumers and vulnerable groups from the most harmful chemicals.
The regulation strengthens the enforcement of toy safety rules by means of a digital product passport (DPP) containing key safety information, which will facilitate customs control and market surveillance.
The EU Council’s vote is formally the adoption of the first reading position of the Council. This is expected to be the last step of the adoption process at Council level. The text will now need to be approved by the European Parliament before entering into force. The new rules will fully apply after a transition period of four and a half years.
