Revision of the toy safety directive

Key points:

The EESC:

• supports the Commission's initiative and considers it reasonable, necessary and proportionate overall, given that children's safety cannot be compromised;
• considers that the proposed extension of generic bans, justified by scientific progress, is proportionate, as it would significantly reduce the number of accidents and diseases associated with toys that are caused by contact with harmful chemicals;
• acknowledges that introducing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) can have an impact on customers' willingness to buy non-compliant toys and can help market surveillance and custom authorities distinguish between compliant and non-compliant toys;
• points out nevertheless that the projected provisions on the DPP can disproportionately negatively impact the market of traditional and personalised non-serial toys and, thereby, suggests introducing dedicated measures to help the manufacturers of such toys;
• invites the Commission to consider the potential threats to child safety that could be brought on by a possible increase in the market share of non-compliant toys as a result of higher toy prices;
• stresses therefore that such risk should be balanced by efficient market surveillance, by paying particular attention to the compliance of imported toys.