SGS : Trinidad and Tobago Consults Over Revised Draft of Mandatory Toy Safety Standard

Trinidad and Tobago is consulting over a draft standard to strengthen toy safety. The proposed date of entry into force is March 31, 2020.

SAFEGUARDS | Consumer ProductsNO. 175/19

In July 2019, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago consulted over its draft mandatory standard on the migration of heavy metals from toy materials. Comments were accepted until September 2019 (SafeGuardS 115/19).

Since the consultation over its draft mandatory standard on soluble elements, the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards ('the Bureau') has made available on its website a revised draft mandatory standard for chemicals in toys, designated as PCTTCS 3:20XX (Replaces TTS/ISO 8124-3:2010) 'Safety of Toys - Compulsory Chemical Requirements'.

The revised draft standard contains several important provisions and requirements:

1. Defining the scope of toys
2. One set of migration limits for eight elements for each category of 'toy materials other than modeling clay and finger paints', 'modeling clay' and 'finger paints' - these are based in ISO 8124.3 (see Table 1)
3. Migration of boron for three categories of toy materials based on BS EN 71-3:2019
4. ≤ 0.1% for seven phthalates (BBP, DBP, DEHP, DIBP, DINP, DIDP and DNOP), individually and in combination
5. Labeling

According to the Bureau, comments will be accepted until January 31, 2020.

Per World Trade Organization (WTO) document number 19-7726 of November 13, 2019, notified under G/TBT/N/TTO/121/Rev.1, the proposed date of entry into force of the draft standard is March 31, 2020.

Highlights on the migration limits for eight soluble elements based on ISO 8124.3 in the draft standard are summarized in Table 1.

Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards Draft PCTTCS 3:20XX (Replaces TTS/ISO 8124-3:2010) 'Safety of Toys - Compulsory Chemical Requirements
Soluble element	Toy material
	Toy material other than modeling clay and finger paints (mg/kg)	Modeling clay (mg/kg)	Finger paint (mg/kg)
Antimony	60	60	10
Arsenic	25	25	10
Barium	1,000	250	350
Cadmium	75	50	15
Chromium	60	25	25
Lead	90	90	25
Mercury	60	25	10
Selenium	500	500	50

Table 1

Definitions

Item	Acronym/Abbreviation	Phthalate
1	BBP	Benzyl butyl phthalate
2	DBP	Dibutyl phthalate
3	DEHP	Bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
4	DIBP	Diisobutyl phthalate
5	DIDP	Di-isodecyl phthalate
6	DINP	Di-isononyl phthalate
7	DNOP	Di-n-octyl phthalate

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