Toy safety

Safety requirements for toys

EU toy safety rules are among the strictest in the world. They aim at protecting children whilst facilitating the free movement of toys within the single market.

EU rules lay down the essential safety requirements that toys must meet in order to be placed on the EU market, irrespective of whether they are manufactured in the EU or in third countries.

According to EU rules, before placing a toy on the market, manufacturers must carry out safety assessments as regards several types of risks: chemical, physical and mechanical, electrical, flammability, hygiene and radioactivity hazards.

Physical and mechanical properties

Electrical properties

Flammability

Hygiene requirements

Chemical substances

Radioactivity hazards

Toys must also be marked with the CE logo, indicating that they conform to EU safety standards.

The CE marking ensures EU consumers buying toys can benefit from a high level of health, safety, and environmental protection.

Toys were however still the second most notified products in 2023 to the EU rapid alert system for dangerous consumer products.

In October 2025, the Council adopted the toy safety regulation to further increase the safety of toys. The new text increases the protection levels of the existing regulation by banning or restricting harmful chemicals in toys. It also improves enforcement thanks to the new digital product passport, including for toys sold online.

To allow industry actors time to implement the new rules efficiently, the agreement establishes a transition period of 4.5 years.

Council adopts new rules to make children toys safer (press release, 13 October 2025)

Protection from chemicals

The updated rules increase protection against harmful chemicals.

In addition to substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction already banned in previous legislation, the new rules also prohibit the use of an enlarged set of chemicals that affect the endocrine system (endocrine disruptors), respiratory system or are toxic to a specific organ.

Endocrine disruptors

Chemicals affecting the respiratory system

Chemicals toxic to a specific organ

The new rules also ban the use of substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction. Other restrictions include:

a general ban on certain categories of skin sensitisers (chemical substances that provoke an allergic response following skin contact)
a ban on toys that have a biocidal function
a ban on the treatment of toys with biocidal products (except for toys that are intended to be placed permanently outdoors)
a limit on the use of preservatives
a ban on the use of fragrance allergens in toys intended for children younger than three years old
a limited ban on the intentional use of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in toys (except for necessary electronic functions of toys where the substance or mixture is fully inaccessible to children)
a ban of the presence in toys of 10 bisphenols

Digital passport

The new rules will further reduce the number of non-compliant or unsafe toys on the EU market through better enforcement.

Under the new legislation, all toys must have a digital product passport, which would include information on compliance with EU rules. These passports can be scanned by border control authorities using a new IT system.

Importers would have to submit digital product passports for all toys at the EU borders, including for those sold online.

Reducing the number of unsafe toys that are still sold in the EU, especially online, should also be increasing the level playing field between toys manufactured in the EU and imported ones.

This is crucial for the EU toy industry, which provides over 50 000 jobs, most of them in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Obligations of economic operators and online marketplaces

The new rules introduce several improvements to clarify and strengthen the requirements for economic operators and providers of online marketplaces, in line with obligations imposed by EU laws applicable to toys.

Manufacturers will be required to:

mark the warnings in a way that is easily understandable by consumers
inform other economic operators in the distribution chain of any product conformity issues

Toy importers will also need to inform the producer and market surveillance authorities if they suspect that a toy presents a risk.

Online sales

As providers of online marketplaces play an important role when intermediating the sale or promotion of toys between traders and consumers, toys that do not conform with the toy safety regulation will be regarded as illegal content for the purposes of the digital services act (DSA).

The new legislative text also sets out toy-specific obligations for providers of online marketplaces. For instance, it requires that the interfaces of online marketplaces be designed and organised in a way that allows economic operators to display:

the CE marking, any warning necessary for the consumer prior to purchase
a link to the digital product passport