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Severe Regulations for Toys in the European Union: The New EC Directive from a German Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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On 18 December 2008, the European Parliament accepted the proposals of the European Commission for amendment of the toy directive. The modifications are published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Following publication of the new directive, the member states have 18 months in which to transpose it into national law. In Germany, in all probability, this will occur in the 2nd Ordinance to the German Geräte- und Produktsicherheitsgesetz (GPSG - Equipment and Product Safety Act). The revised laws will apply two years after the directive has come into force, while the new threshold values for heavy metals will apply in four years. Until then, the old rules will continue to apply. Thus the directive, which is over 20 years old, has been revised following increasing reports of unsafe toys, particularly, though not exclusively, from China. The aim of the amendment is to ensure that toys do not pose any health risks or risks of injury, thus achieving a reduction in the number of toy-related accidents.

Type
Developments
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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