Toys and Playground Safety

TÜV can help you differentiate your products and enhance your company's reputation by demonstrating to consumers that your product has been tested and certified by a globally recognized, independent third-party testing and certification organization.

TÜV Product Service tests and certifies:

• Children's playground equipment

• Juvenile products

• Children's furniture

• Children's ride-on vehicles

• Battery-powered toys

• Infant care articles

• Plush articles

• Conventional toys

Selling your products in Europe?
TÜV Product Service is also a European Union (EU) Notified Body for the Toy Directive, providing experienced professionals worldwide to fulfill your market access needs. Compliance to the Toy Directive enables you to apply the CE Marking, a prerequisite for your products to be sold in the European Union. The CE Marking must appear on your product to demonstrate your products' conformance to the European Union's Toy safety requirements.

What Exactly is The Toy Directive?
The Toy Directive (88/378/EEC) is a European Union law, which harmonizes European requirements, bringing together one basic safety requirement for Toy products. This standard allows companies to access and sell their products within the EU marketplace.

Once testing has been completed according to the appropriate European harmonized product safety standards, and your product can show it meets the requirements of the Toy Directive, the CE Marking can be applied.

Compliance with applicable European harmonized standards will also give you the option of applying the TÜV-Mark, substantiating your declaration that the product meets essential requirements of the Toy Directive, and has been validated by an independent and competent third party. The TÜV-Mark is viewed favorably by distributors that import products into the European Union.

Selling your Products in North America?
In North America, products are also expected to meet a minimum level of safety requirements and are subject to the same level of scrutiny. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) monitors products placed on the market, enforcing mandatory U.S. Code of Federal Regulations requirements applying to toys. In Canada, Health Canada enforces the Hazardous Products Regulations that relate to toys entering the Canadian marketplace. These requirements as well as voluntary safety standards published by standards bodies and Health Canada or CPSC recommendations provide the foundation for determining whether a toy can be considered appropriate for use and sale in the U.S. or Canadian marketplace.

The following are several examples of children's product recalls conducted by the CPSC over the past several years:

• Wooden Trains; chocking, small parts
  

• Battery-Powered Vehicles; fire
  

• Toy Chests; suffocation
  

• Bean Bag Toys; small part aspiration
  

• Flying Dolls; lacerations
  

• Play Pens; Head & neck entrapment

Each of these recall actions required the affected company to expend time, energy and money to remove, repair or replace the toy and restore consumer confidence. Don't get caught in a costly recall, work with TÜV today.

For more information, contact us.

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