JA2008 - Project on Toys for Very Young Children

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.

Over 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.