BTHA Age Labelling of Toys Guide

The BTHA has produced guidance outlining the common issues encountered when making age recommendations for toys. The guidance uses examples taken from EN71-1 as these are the most commonly encountered issues, but the principles apply to other toy standards which also contain age-based safety warnings.

BTHA Food Imitations Guide

The UK Food Imitations (Safety) Regulations 1989 outline the requirements that all companies must meet when placing non-food items that look like food on the UK market. The guide has been developed with the British Retail Consortium, the BTHA Toy Retailer Safety Forum, and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.

BTHA Grey Area Product Decisions (Toy or Non-Toy) Guide

The BTHA’s Grey Area guide has been updated to reflect the fact that the UK is no longer part of the EU.

The BTHA’s Primary Authority, Milton Keynes has assured this guidance as Primary Authority Advice.

Any proposed enforcement action in the UK against any of the BTHA members within the ‘regulatory group’ that is inconsistent with this BTHA Primary Authority assured advice, will be ‘directed against’. This means that Milton Keynes Primary Authority may direct an enforcing authority not to take proposed enforcement action (thereby blocking the enforcement action) where such action is inconsistent with primary authority advice.

The Toy Gun Code

The law on toy guns changed in 2007 with the introduction of the Violent Crime Reduction Act to ensure toy guns could not be accidentally mistaken for real or replica guns.

The BTHA, alongside other toy associations, worked with the police to ensure toy guns, such as water pistols, are brightly coloured to avoid confusion with real or replica guns.

The only exception is toy guns that look like those produced before 1870 such as pirate or cowboy ‘guns’.

US Federal Requirements For Toys

In the United States, there is toy safety legislation made at the federal level which applies to the whole of the US, and those made at the individual state level. Toy companies selling into the US need to consider both. The BTHA guide covers the federal requirements for toys intended for use in play by children under 14 years of age.

General Product Safety Regulation – BTHA Fact Sheet

The EU GPSR has been updated and comes into force from 13^th December 2024. The Regulation will apply immediately in all member states. The GPSR lays down essential rules on the safety of consumer products placed or made available

in the EU market with regards to human, physical and mental health. The new regulation aligns more closely with “new approach” legislation and this means many requirements already appear in the Toy Safety Directive.

In general most obligations for toys will still be covered by the Toy Safety Directive rather than the GPSR but members are advised to cross check requirements to ensure they are already covering all aspects. In particular there are some general requirements around recalls and the right to remedy for consumers. Also note that the Food Imitation Directive will be withdrawn and is now included within the GPSR.

The BTHA has produced a fact sheet giving a summary of the requirements so members can prepare see here.

GPSR Recall Notice Document

GPSR Guidelines for the notification of dangerous consumer products – Recall Notice