Everybody should play by the rules

In the run-up to Christmas – as per usual – there are scary stories around about unsafe toys.  This seems foolish, there’s no use in frightening people off buying toys as most of them are safe. It would be much better to empower people to make safe choices as there is an element of control for consumers. This is why @ToyIndustriesofEurope has come up with a number of consumer tips for buying toys online as extra vigilance is a good thing here.

But in an ideal world, we should not need to take extra care when buying toys, as EU rules determine that all toys sold in the EU must be safe. So WHY are there still unsafe toys around? It’s a problem that is underlined every year with the publication of the Commission’s Safety Gate report: toys usually top the list. We know that part of the explanation for the high number of toys stopped by market surveillance is that authorities have been sensitized about toys and are on the look-out for unsafe ones – which is a good thing. But I fear this is only part of the explanation. It is possible that the number of unsafe toys is growing at the moment, especially with shoppers increasingly buying from third-parties on online market places.

Some take the catching of unsafe toys as a sign that the rules are not strict enough, that the Toy Safety Directive needs changing. But it is not the Directive’s fault. It provides a robust legal framework (probably the strictest in the world) to ensure that all toys sold in the EU are safe. And there was some future-proofing built into it. The problem is that the rules we have are 100% ignored by a growing number of parties – those unknown and dishonest traders who take advantage of the new openings provided by online marketplaces - who care not a jot for the safety of children but are out to make a quick profit. 

I want to warmly congratulate Mrs von der Leyen as the new Commission President, she seems very passionate and full of good intentions. I particularly welcome her wish - as stated in the new Commissioners' mission letters - to focus on the application and enforcement of EU law.  I hope this advice will be followed. It would only be sensible for policymakers to ask themselves the question when devising new rules: “how will we enforce this?” and “will we be able to hold non-EU operators to account on this?” If a new rule is not enforceable and even creates an unlevel playing field favouring foreign rogue players over honest European businesses, it is not worth the paper it is written on.

#toysafety #vdlCommission