Have your say – Protecting children from unsafe toys

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• 

  Jean-Michel Huit

  1 February 2026 at 16:07

  Reply

  Toys: Within Three Years, All Compliant
  Yes, we can — including electric, connected and artificial intelligence–based toys.
  Diagnosis
  Systematically failing for the past fifteen years to ensure child safety, the European Toy Safety Directive and REACH Regulation have done so because they continue to rely on the same security approach: building an impenetrable regulatory barrier that customs authorities and national market surveillance bodies are unable to effectively enforce.
  In addition, simple documentary checks — even when digitalised — are insufficient to ensure toy safety. Direct imports by end consumers, as well as the downloading of software updates or games, already make current or planned control procedures obsolete, and in some cases inaccessible for small production runs, even though these procedures have not yet been fully transposed into national legislation.
  The risk of local regulations adopted by one or more EU Member States undermining the Single Market is therefore real.
  Across all distribution channels, it is estimated that approximately one quarter of toys sold on the European market are non-compliant with European standards and directives, and that approximately five percent are dangerous.
  These figures are broadly consistent once exaggerated claims published by certain manufacturers’ associations, consumer groups or public bodies are set aside.
  Non-compliance varies by origin:
  • Imported toys often show non-compliance in marking, language requirements or labelling.
  • European-made toys more frequently show documentary non-compliance: missing or outdated safety assessments, inconsistencies between technical documentation and manufacturing documentation, etc. These elements are still little or not at all checked by customs and national authorities (DGCCRF in France).
  The origin of a product or its brand is in no way a guarantee of compliance, but merely a stronger presumption of compliance.
  Dangerous toys can be divided into two main categories:
  • The application of standards from other regulatory systems with requirements lower than those in force in Europe.
  • Lack of knowledge of the REACH Regulation, which either has no real equivalent or whose restricted substances are not fully public, making effective control impossible for manufacturers.
  Major new challenge: electric, connected and AI-based toys
  The rapid emergence of electric toys, connected toys (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC), and toys integrating artificial intelligence functions (voice recognition, adaptive learning, personalised interaction, etc.) creates major new risks that are often insufficiently controlled:
  • Electrical and thermal safety (overheating, lithium batteries, non-compliant chargers)
  • Cybersecurity: vulnerabilities allowing unauthorised access, remote control of the toy, or remote listening
  • Protection of children’s personal data (GDPR): unlawful collection of voices, images, behaviours and learning profiles
  • Algorithmic bias and inappropriate content generated by AI systems
  • Missing or unsecured software updates, making a toy compliant at time T but non-compliant over time
  These toys fall simultaneously under:
  • the Toy Safety Directive,
  • electrical safety legislation,
  • the GDPR,
  • the future European AI Act,
  • cybersecurity regulation (Cyber Resilience Act),
  • and the REACH Regulation, which is often not even known by new market entrants.
  They therefore represent an operational regulatory blind spot, particularly for SMEs and non-specialised importers.
  Materials, REACH and supplier responsibility
  Incomplete REACH declarations by European raw material suppliers are a major source of non-compliance, especially for SMEs and artisans who, in good faith, believe they are working with compliant materials.
  This risk is amplified for electric and connected toys, which use:
  • engineering plastics,
  • flame retardants,
  • electronic components,
  • adhesives, inks and batteries,
  which are more frequently exposed to substances of concern.
  Imports, e-commerce and new importers
  A new reality: any private individual can become an importer by purchasing online outside the EU. A few euros in parcel fees or the future European Digital Product Passport (DPP) may slow the phenomenon, but will not stop it.
  The majority of non-compliant or dangerous toys originate from China, followed by South-East Asia.
  The same applies to counterfeits.
  The fight against counterfeiting requires a specific approach and is not addressed here.
  Fundamental principle
  A toy must never harm a child’s health, in the short or long term.
  This also applies to:
  • psychological development,
  • screen exposure,
  • privacy,
  • and exposure to opaque algorithmic systems.
  Safety has a cost.
  Manufacturing prices, particularly in China, must integrate these requirements.
  Objective: All toys compliant within three years
  Action must be taken so that, within three years, all toys entering the European market — regardless of their distribution channels and technological level — are compliant.
  This explicitly includes:
  • electric toys,
  • connected toys,
  • toys integrating AI functions.
  Action in China: make the European framework THE global reference
  China concentrates nearly three quarters of global toy production in two major regions, including for technological innovations. The ecosystem is compact, enabling effective regional action.
  Proposed actions in China
  • Social media campaigns targeting:
  o parents and future parents,
  o Chinese SMEs,
  to promote European regulations, including REACH, cybersecurity and data protection.
  • Webinars in Chinese languages covering:
  o health (endocrine disruptors, allergens),
  o electrical safety,
  o cybersecurity of connected toys,
  o sustainable, repairable and safe design,
  o responsibility related to embedded AI,
  o inclusion of players with special needs.
  • A European stand at major Chinese trade fairs for three years, dedicated to:
  o toy regulation,
  o connected toys,
  o AI and compliance,
  o training and awareness, including inclusion.
  • Strengthened cooperation with the MEEA and regional and local authorities.
  Proposed actions in Europe
  Promotion
  • Require simplification of procedures for controlling software updates and player-related activities/interactions.
  • Strengthen controls on REACH-compliant certified materials, including electronic components and engineering plastics.
  • Implement a light quality assurance scheme for SMEs and artisans (video audits inspired by ISO 9001/9002), including:
  o traceability,
  o documentation,
  o electrical safety,
  o basic cybersecurity for connected toys.
  Consumer accountability
  Make consumers responsible for their cross-border purchases and strictly enforce legislation.
  Contrary to manufacturers’ demands to shift responsibility to platforms, platforms can only — systematically — be prosecuted for complicity in cases of non-cooperation.
  Control and artificial intelligence
  • Train a European AI system to automatically detect:
  o visible non-compliance,
  o indicators of documentary non-compliance,
  o counterfeits,
  o unsecured connected toys,
  based on images, descriptions, technical claims and marketing promises.
  • Clearly separate:
  o counterfeiting,
  o regulatory non-compliance,
  to avoid double counting.
  • Evaluate and, if positive, fund the widespread use of spectroscopy to detect certain hazardous components.
  DPP (Digital Product Passport)
  • Simplify the DPP to make it accessible to SMEs, artisans and self-employed workers, based on:
  o a manufacturing process or craft,
  o rather than solely on an individual product,
  while integrating:
  o electronics,
  o embedded software,
  o updates,
  o children’s data management.
  Close cooperation with partner countries
  Use and integrate the specific resources of partner countries (United Kingdom, Switzerland, etc.) into these actions.
  Conclusion
  Within three years, by jointly implementing all these preventive actions before products reach Europe — whether physically or digitally — and by adapting control methods, a compliance rate approaching 100% is achievable.
  In doing so, this strategy will force non-European manufacturers to increase their prices, facilitating the revival of a European toy industry and indirectly promoting European production in foreign markets.
  Finally, these actions will contribute to marginalising American standards.

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