The EU's new Grinch-like rules to create nightmare for UK businesses as bloc eyes 'toy passports'

The EU's new Grinch-like rules to create nightmare for UK businesses as bloc eyes 'toy passports'
Millie Cooke

By Millie Cooke


Published: 23/12/2023

- 08:42

The new rules could cause more than 26 million toys to be withdrawn from the market

The European Commission's plans for new "toy passports" could create a nightmare for UK businesses, as it would only add to burdensone regulations faced by UK suppliers.

Current regulations see toys containing harmful substances, such as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic chemicals (CMRs), banned from the market.



But the new rules would extend regulations to cover other materials.

It could cause more than 26 million toys to be withdrawn from the market.

Von der Leyen

The European Commission's plans for new "toy passports" could create a nightmare for UK businesses

PA

Any toys produced in the UK and supplied to the EU will have to comply with the new rules.

Sir Bill Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, urged the UK Government to set out how it plans to react to the new rules.

He also called for the Government to consult with manufacturers on the proposals, particularly in Northern Ireland.

Raising concerns about the new regulations, Cash said: "These new rules could have a significant impact on toy producers in the UK."

"While we note that the Government’s assessment is at an early stage, we call for the Government to provide more information on the extent of divergence between the UK and EU on toy safety.

"The Committee shares the Government’s view that Northern Ireland must have unfettered access to the rest of the UK market.


"We urge the Government to set out how it will make sure that remains the case, and how it will consult NI manufacturers on the likely impact of the new rules."

The EU’s own impact assessment says its "stringent" regulations will be "costly for companies"

But they warned that any companies choosing to ignore the rules will cause an "uneven playing field".

The bloc's assessment speculates that, in 2019, there were as many as €1.65 billion worth of uncompliant toys in the EU market.

An EU survey, conducted ahead of the proposed crackdown, saw industry members claim that the existing regulations were "sufficiently protective and there was no need to strengthen its requirement".

But consumer and environmental groups disagreed.

You may like