Study on third-party testing of toys

The European Toy Safety Directive 88/378/EEC (TSD) regulates the EU toy sector through safety criteria and essential requirements, which toys must meet before being placed on the EU market. The European Commission, in January 2008, put forward a proposal for a new Toy Safety Directive. One of the key questions during drafting of the proposal for a new Directive was whether to make it mandatory for all toys to be tested by an independent third-party tester, which is not the case today. However, based on an Impact Assessment carried out in 2004, the Commission decided not to include mandatory third-party testing of toys in the proposal for a new Toy Safety Directive. The objective of this study is to outline the merits and drawbacks of mandatory third-party testing of toys, by providing facts on the current situation and different stakeholders’ opinions on mandatory third-party testing of toys.