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EU: Type approval protocols updated for toys

october 2018- Relevant for: toys and children's products

On 24 September 2018, European Commission (EC) has updated type approval protocol No. 1 and No. 5. The protocols are the agreed procedures set up by the coordination group of Notified Bodies which are authorized to carry out third party conformity assessment tasks to Toy Directive, and used as guidelines to help Notified Bodies carry out the type examination.

Toys are subjected to type examination in case the harmonized standards cannot cover all relevant safety requirements or cannot be followed completely. Based on the nature, design, construction or purpose of the toys, manufacturer can submit to type examination in cases the toys require third party verification.

Protocol No. 1 provides an exhaustive list of toys require type examination and also those do not need type examination according to Toy Directive.

Protocol No. 5 provides specifications and methods for the testing of functional heating aspect of toy microwavable warmers, which are in the form of plush animals and similar articles. The protocol applies to both of the following types of warmers:

Warmers that contains grain, polymer granules, silicon gel or other filling material within an inner casing, which needs to be removed from the outer cover when place in the microwave oven.
The filling materials are integrated and the whole product has to be placed in the microwave oven.

Type Approval Protocol

New Version

Highlights of the changes

No. 1 Categories of toys which have been submitted to type examination¹

Revision 7

Clarified that non-buried trampolines no longer require type examination

No. 5 Microwavable toys²

Revision 1

a) General information.

i. Added two specific hazards addressed in the protocol:

• Accessibility to liquids, which could be hot or of hazardous content.

• Risks related to inadequate instructions for use of the product.

ii. Indicated that only specific risks that need harmonization are taken into the protocol.

b) Addition of requirements.

i. Resistance to heating according to manufacturer’s instructions

• The surface temperature should be ≤ 75°C at any time and ≤ 48°C after 10 minutes.

ii. Resistance to overheating

• The surface temperature should be ≤ 48°C after 20 minutes.

iii. Heating cycles

• End the test if any smoke, smelling or other phenomena which might be due to the heating is observed.

c) Warnings and instructions for use.

i. Clarified the outer case removal instruction is to be labelled on the outer cover (if the inner casing is removable).

ii. Newly added instruction for the marking of power rating: ranges of values should be shown; and the higher values of each range should be used for testing.

iii. New note added for the instructions “Heat only in microwave oven”. In case conventional oven can also be used, this statement can be left out and separate risks analysis needs to be done.

iv. Added a new statement for user instruction: “Respect the given time of heating and Wattage.”

[1] Type approval protocol No. 1 (REV 7)

[2] Type approval protocol No. 5 (REV 1)