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UK: Amendment of the toys regulations in Great Britain

JUNE 2022 - TOYS AND CHILDREN PRODUCTS

On 16 June 2022, the United Kingdom (UK) government published Statutory Instruments¹ to amend the Cosmetic Products Regulations 2009 (UK Cosmetics Regulations) and the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 (UK Toys Regulations), as applicable in England, Wales and Scotland.

Toys that are compliant with the existing UK Toy Regulations and are placed on the market before the effective dates can be continued to be sold by distributors, including retailers.

The designated standard² for toys remains unchanged since it is first published in December 2020.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), the UK government's product safety body, announced the government's intention to update the UK Cosmetics regulations and UK Toys Regulations in April this year. The OPSS considered the advice of Scientific Advisory Group (SAG-CS)³ and informed the decisions regarding restrictions of certain chemicals in the two products.

The Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 are amended as follows: 

• The number of prohibited allergenic fragrances has expanded from 55 to 58. These three fragrances are commonly used to fragrance products such as finger paints and modelling clay: 
  

  No.	Name of fragrances	CAS no.	Effective date
  (56)	Atranol (2,6-Dihydroxy-4-methyl-benzaldehyde)	526-37-4	15 October 2022
  (57)	Chloroatranol (3-Chloro-2,6-Dihydroxy-4-methyl-benzaldehyde)	57074-21-2
  (58)	Methyl heptine carbonate*	111-12-6

  *Also removed from the permitted fragrances that require labelling 
• Migration limits for Aluminium is revised: 
  

  	Category 1  Dry, brittle, powder-like or pliable toy materials	Category 2  Liquid or sticky toy materials	Category 3  Scraped-off toy materials
  Current	5,625	1,406	70,000
  NEW (effective 15 December 2022)	2,250	560	28,130

• Newly added 2 substances in Appendix C for toys intended for use by children under 36 months or in other toys intended to be placed in the mouth: 
  

  Substance	Requirements	Effective date
  Aniline   (CAS no. 62-53-3)	30 mg/kg after reductive cleavage in textile and leather materials  30 mg/kg after reductive cleavage in finger paints  10 mg/kg as free aniline in finger paints	15 December 2022
  Formaldehyde   (CAS no. 50-00-0)	Polymeric 1.5 mg/l (migration limit)  Resin-bonded wood 0.1 ml/m3 (emission limit)  Textile 30 mg/kg  Leather 30 mg/kg  Paper 30 mg/kg  Water-based 10 mg/kg

[1]  The Toys and Cosmetic Products (Restriction of Chemical Substances) Regulations 2022 

[2]  Designated standards: toy safety

[3]  Scientific Advisory Group on Chemical Safety of Non-Food and Non-Medicinal Consumer Products