97% of Online-toys from Third-party Sellers Were Non-compliant with EU Law

Unsafe toys appear at an alarming rate in EU:

The report “EU Toy Safety: the problem of unreputable sellers on online marketplaces”, issued earlier this year by the “Toy Industries of Europe” (TIE) shows that in a test exercise, 97% of toys bought online from third-party sellers were non-compliant with EU law and 76% of those safety-tested were deemed dangerous for children!

EU Marketing Surveillance:

In fact, national market surveillance authorities in each EU member State perform regular inspections of all goods entering the European market, with unsafe products announced in detail, followed by subsequent punishment according to the relevant European Directives. The chart on the right shows the data in 2020 as at October, illustrating the common hazards encountered in Europe for imported toys. Therefore, it is dangerous not to pay highest attention to product safety –as reputational damage and financial loss due to penalty and market recall will follow.

STC helps you to ensure toy safety compliance:

In order to avoid the risk of being caught by the European Authority as an “unsafe toy”, followed by possible punishment, recall or withdrawal of products in the EU market, it is of utmost importance for the Toy manufacturers, importers and distributors to make sure the products sold are in compliance with all the latest European legal and technical requirements. Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre (STC Group) has more than 50 years in toy safety testing and inspections. Besides fully equipped with the toy testing equipment, STC Group also keeps abreast of updates of the toy safety requirements globally as well as the major events relating to toy safety every day.

STC (Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre) is a not-for-profit, independent testing, inspection and certification organization. With a global network of ISO/IEC 17025 accredited testing laboratories and over 50 years of experience in consumer product testing, we can meet your conformity assessment needs with highly efficient and reliable service.

[See PDF version for more information]