Toy Safety: What Does the Law Say?

When you’re buying toys for your children, you will want to know that you’re doing the very best you can to ensure anything you give them to play with is safe and that they won’t come to any harm.

There are several rules and regulations that surround children’s toys. These are usually enforced by your local authority Trading Standards teams, who have a responsibility when it comes to ensuring the safety of any consumer goods and services – although they aren’t legally responsible for getting you any compensation if a toy that you buy turns out to be faulty or even dangerous. They can, however, test a toy that you feel is unsafe, and prosecute any manufacturer or supplier of unsafe toys.

What is a Toy?

According to the law, a toy is defined as:

"any product or material designed or clearly intended for use in play by children of less than 14 years of age" but does not include such items as children's fashion jewellery or Christmas decorations.

Toy (Safety) Regulations 1995

In addition to the standard rules that govern the safety of all consumer products, toys are covered by a piece of European law called the European Directive (88/378/EEC). This directive is incorporated into UK safety legislation under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 1995, which is part of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

The Toy Safety Regulations set out the essential safety requirements for toys, and these cover elements which include the design and construction of toys, and any risks that toys might pose to children.

What Risks Do Toy Safety Laws Cover?

The risks covered by the law are:

  • Physical and mechanical
  • Flammability
  • Chemical properties
  • Electrical properties
  • Hygiene
  • Radioactivity.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Who is Protected By Toy Safety Laws?

Obviously, the child or children who are playing with a toy are protected from health hazards or physical injury by the toy safety legislation, so no harm should come to a child as a result of any toy that they use. The law doesn’t stop there, however – it also covers third parties, so that they should not be exposed to danger or injury from a toy. So, the manufacturers don’t just have to think about how a child could potentially hurt himself while playing with something they produce – but they also have to take into account “intended or foreseeable” behaviour of children. Just because you’re not supposed to take a toy apart and force feed it to another girl at play group doesn’t mean that a child won’t think it’s a great idea...

This part of the law does place a responsibility on toy manufacturers to think about how toys and games are likely to be used – or misused - and to take these issues into account when new toys are being designed.

How Can I Make Sure My Child’s Toys Comply With Safety Laws?

The most obvious thing is to always look for toy labels - the most important one being the European Community (CE) symbol. A toy with this label is certified as meeting the requirements of the EC Toy Safety Directive.

If a toy doesn’t have a CE mark, it might not be intended to be used as a toy, and could just be intended as a novelty – this type of product isn’t necessarily going to be safe for your child to play with, as it won’t have passed all of the stringent tests involved in the CE Mark.

When it comes to buying toys, you just need to use common sense and look for the CE mark. If you have any concerns about the safety of any toy, report them straight away to your local trading standards office, who have a responsibility in law to protect consumers from unsafe products - and could prosecute the suppliers if a toy turns out to be unsafe.