SPRING 2016 ROUND-UP Know your legal obligations as an importer Any business thinking of importing products into the UK including toys is advised to brush up on its legal obligations after the hoverboards safety crisis that erupted in the runup to Christmas. ROUND-UP It was hard to miss the recent problems caused by hoverboards from China 2015s must have Christmas present. Dealing with this issue presented a major challenge for Trading Standards services, with countless visits to importers, wholesalers and retailers needed to deal with safety issues. A signicant factor was the eagerness of importers to enter into this lucrative new market without sucient knowledge of the complex product safety laws they have to comply with. As a result, many importers have paid a heavy price, with goods being intercepted and destroyed at point of entry into the UK, seized, or their sale suspended by local Trading Standards departments. So, if you are thinking about importing goods but dont understand your legal obligations, speak to your local Trading Standards department rst. In 2014, Trading Standards ocers from a number of local authorities looked at the potential dangers presented by cheap plastic toy dolls. Ocers purchased examples from shops and markets, and submitted them for testing to nd out whether they contained chemicals called phthalates, which are dangerous to children. Phthalates are used to soften plastics. If a child chews a toy containing these chemicals, they can be absorbed through the mouth, leading to damage to the reproductive system and an increased risk of cancer and asthma. The ndings were worrying, with 20 per cent of the dolls bought found not to comply with the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 because of the presence of these chemicals in excess of legal limits. These adverse results prompted a much larger sampling project by Trading Standards services across England and Wales in November 2015. More than 150 toy dolls made of plastic or with plastic parts costing from as little as 99p were purchased and tested. The results of this sampling have still to be nalised, but it appears the ndings will be at least as bad as the 2014 survey. Look out for more on this subject in the next edition of Trading Standards Business News. Credit: Murray Dewar Flammability standards in the spotlight Should childrens fancy-dress clothing be reclassied as nightwear? This is a debate that continues to rage after incidents involving children who have been severely injured while wearing fancy-dress costumes that readily caught re and then burned violently. The debate has led to calls for a toughening of the safety requirements that these costumes need to meet, and a review is currently under way to determine how best to achieve this. At present, fancy-dress costumes for children aged under 14 years fall within the denition of a toy, as outlined in the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC. Under this directive, the costumes should not pose a flammability hazard to wearers or third parties. In the UK, the directive has been made law by the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011. The directive states that toys: l must not burn if directly exposed to a flameor spark or l must not be readily flammable (flame goes out as soon as the ignition source isremoved) or l if they do ignite, they must burn slowly and present low rate of spread or l be treated so as to delay the combustion process To demonstrate compliance with the directive, a manufacturer of childrens fancydress costumes can choose to apply a harmonised standard. The specic harmonised standard in this instance is BS EN 71 Part 2, which covers the flammability requirements for toys and is used by manufacturers to test that fancy-dress costumes comply. Among other factors, the standard covers rate of flame spread in childrens costumes. It is being argued that these requirements are not stringent enough and childrens fancy-dress clothing should be reclassied as nightwear. This is regulated by the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985, which arguably has a more robust standard on flammability (BS 5722 on nightwear safety). An alternative argument is that childrens fancy-dress clothing does not need to be reclassied; instead, BS EN 71 Part 2 the standard that covers flammability requirements for toys should be reviewed to reduce the rate of flame spread to make fancy-dress less hazardous. This debate continues, so watch this space for developments. For further information contact your local Trading Standards service or visit the Business Companion website. Credit: Murray Dewar Images: Pavel L Photo and Video / Shutterstock BUSINESS MATTERS Trading Standards is committed to making it easier for businesses to comply with the law and Trading Standards Business News (TSBN) is one of the ways it is doing just that. Formerly called Trading Standards News, this publication focuses on topics that are relevant to people running businesses, and aims to help them operate safely and eciently while staying within the law. If you are viewing this edition on a web browser, you can download the TSBN app for Apple, Android and Amazon devices.