EU Toy Directive – CMR Restrictions
Intertek offers screening for carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or toxic to reproduction (CMR) to help ensure your toys and children’s products comply with chemical restrictions found in the new EU Toy Directive (2009/48/EC or EN 71).
Intertek offers efficient and cost-effective EN 71-3 chemical testing and chemical safety assessment (CSA) solutions to screen for the presence of volatile CMRs in your products. Intertek currently offers EN 71-3 testing at our accredited labs in the UK, France and Hong Kong, while the accreditation approval process is underway at labs in China, Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Intertek uses sophisticated chromatographic techniques that are in line with mass spectrometry technology and incorporate a huge chemical library.
The EU classifies numerous CMRs, which are primarily chemicals derived from petroleum and coal. Volatile CMRs that are frequently used in solvents or as monomers of plastics may be found in residual amounts if the toy or its components contain paint coatings, plastics, adhesive, etc. Toys that contain soft plastics with an obvious odor, such as benzene, toluene, phenol, dichloromethane, vinyl chloride and n-hexane, have the potential to emit volatile CMRs.
Screening for volatile CMRs helps ensure your toy products in compliance with the existing and future requirements, while at the same time, manages testing expenditures because potential problems are detected early in the manufacturing process.
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Resources
Webinar
Explaining EN 71-3 2013 New Chemical Migration Limits in Toys and Childcare Items Webinar
White Papers
Essentials of Due Diligence and Bench marking White Paper
Understanding EN 71-3 new chemical migration limits in toys and childcare items
An Expert’s View of the Implications of the New EU Toy Directive (2009/48/EC) (776 KB PDF)
Insight Bulletins (formerly Sparkles)
Insight Bulletins on the EU Toy Safety Directive (EN 71)