EU Limit Values Published for Aluminium and Formaldehyde in Toys

This article is published by ChemicalWatch on Nov. 22, 2019. Read the original article here.

Member states have until May 2021 to implement

22 November 2019 / Chemical restrictions, Children's products, CMRs, Europe, Metals, Toy safety Directive

The European Commission has published two amendments to the EU toy safety Directive which lower aluminium content in toys and adopt specific limit values for formaldehyde. The limits for aluminium have been reduced from 5,626 to 2,250 mg/kg for dry, brittle, powder-like or pliable toy material, from 1,406 to 560 mg/kg for liquid or sticky toy material and from 70,000 to 28,130 mg/kg for scraped-off toy material.

The amendment says that children are exposed to aluminium through sources other than toys, and therefore only a certain percentage of the tolerably daily intake (TDI) should be allocated to the exposure from toys.

The amendment on formaldehyde, a carcinogen, sets the following limit values:

• 1.5 mg/l (migration limit) in polymeric toy material;

• 0.1 ml/m³ (emission limit) in resin-bonded wood toy material;

• 30 mg/kg (content limit) in textile toy material;

• 30 mg/kg (content limit) in leather toy material;

• 30 mg/kg (content limit) in paper toy material; and

• 10 mg/kg (content limit) in water-based toy material.

Member States must apply the aluminium amendment by 19 May 2021 at the latest, and the formaldehyde amendment by 20 May the same year. They were published in the Official Journal on 19 and 20 November respectively.

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