Legal spotlight - May 2025

TOY MANUFACTURERS supplying onto the European Union (EU) will be subject to new safety rules if a provisional agreement recently reached by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers becomes law, as expected.

Whilst its exact terms are awaited, the proposed Toy Safety Regulation (the proposed regulation) is designed to reinforce the safety rules already in place and align the obligations of economic operators (both from the EU and third countries) to existing EU legislation, such as the EU’s recent General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR).  

Official statements on the proposed regulation confirm that it is intended as a response to increased knowledge of potential risks, and to meet emerging risks, with a particular emphasis on new harmful chemical products.  For example, the list of banned chemicals is to be expanded, with the existing ban on carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic for reproduction chemicals widened to further prohibit chemicals deemed of particular harm to children, such as endocrine disruptors, substances harmful to the respiratory system, and chemicals that are toxic for the skin and other organs.

Under the proposed regulation, before placing a toy on the market, manufacturers will have to carry out a safety assessment on all potential hazards − chemical, physical, mechanical, and electrical. The assessment will also have to test toys’ flammability, hygiene, and radioactivity, and take children’s specific vulnerabilities into account. This will include an obligation on manufacturers, where appropriate, to ensure that digital toys do not pose risks to children’s mental health.

Other features include requirements for safety warnings and the establishment of a digital product passport (DPP).  The DPP is designed to increase traceability, improve the provision of safety information and simplify customs checks.

According to Council there is also to be a “limited ban on intentional use” of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the making of their products and components.  PFAS are a class of more than 10,000 fluorinated chemicals used in everyday products – from beauty and healthcare products, to clothing, semiconductors, medical equipment, in food and drinks packaging, in cleaning chemicals, and in firefighting foam, among other things. PFAS chemicals each have different properties and serve different purposes – for instance, they can make products resistant to oil, water, or heat. Some of these chemicals are known to degrade very slowly – data is not available on all of them – which has led to the colloquialism ‘forever chemicals’ being used to describe them.

A more general EU ban on the manufacture, placing on the market and use of PFAS is currently under consideration by committees within the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), though a full ban is only one of a number of different options on the table.

The proposed regulation will now be put to separate votes of the Council and Parliament. If adopted, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. Member states will then have 54 months to comply with its provisions.

Stakeholders will already be familiar with the more general safety rules in operation in the EU, including the GPSR, which has applied since 13 December 2024.   Where products are subject to specific EU safety requirements, the GPSR applies only to those aspects and risks or categories of risks which are not covered by those requirements. For example, toys have to comply with the GPSR in relation to online sales, accident reporting, consumer rights to information and remedy.

Whilst it will be some time before the proposed regulation starts to apply, stakeholders should start preparations.  Actions to be taken include reviewing safety policies and risk assessing products to inform where vulnerabilities to changed requirements may lie.  Action will be required to ensure these new requirements can be met.  

Although the proposed regulation will not apply in Great Britain, businesses based there but supplying into the EU will have to comply.  The UK is also currently reviewing its own product safety regime, including via the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, currently making its way through Parliament.  That provides a framework for future safety regulations but also allows for greater alignment with the EU, where that is considered of benefit to the UK.