JA2008 - Project on Toys for Very Young Children

Toys1_Participants_at_a_meeting

The first joint market surveillance action on toys coordinated by PROSAFE was initiated around the last quarter 2008. The primary focus was on toys intended for children under 3 years of age with a special focus on small parts and migration of heavy metals.
The Toys Safety Directive at that time was Council Directive 88/378/EEC. Sampling and testing mainly took place during 2009. 576 samples were tested in line with EN71-1. 227 samples were tested in line with EN71-3, migration of heavy metals, some of which being the same toys as those tested for EN71-1.
Representatives from 15 market surveillance authorities from within 13 European countries met regularly and took action under the co-ordination of PROSAFE. The market surveillance authority from Turkey also took part in this activity.

toys1Over 14,000 toys were initialled screened / checked by inspectors from the participating organisations. The data and information extracted from these surveillance exercises has been compiled, analysed and formulated into a Technical Report. Click on the image to the left to see a copy of this report.

In addition to the regular joint action meetings and laboratory testing, the working group also purchased a number of handheld XRF equipment through EU co-funding. The equipment was used for both general pre-screening of toys and the performance of round-robin tests between the various participating organisations. The whole activity ended by mid-2011.