CE marking for toys: what EU toy safety law asks of you

Two EU laws matter for toys. The Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC applies today. The Toy Safety Regulation (EU) 2025/2509Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. has been in force since 1 January 2026 and replaces the Directive on 1 August 2030 (Art. 56Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 56Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 59Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 59Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Everything below is the Directive unless a line says otherwise.

What counts as a toy

The Directive covers products “designed or intended, whether or not exclusively, for use in play by children under 14 years of age” (Art. 2(1)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Three words in that line decide most cases.

• “Whether or not exclusively”. A product with another job still counts if it is also made for play. The Commission’s examples: “a key-ring with a teddy bear attached to it is considered as a toy, as is a toy plastic figurine with a pencil sharpener in its foot.”
• “Designed or intended”. Play value has to be put there by the manufacturer. Nearly anything can be played with; that alone does not make it a toy.
• Foreseeable use beats the label. “The reasonably foreseeable use shall prevail over the declaration of intended use by the manufacturer. If the manufacturer labels the products as not being toys, he has to be able to support this claim.” A “not a toy” sticker on a plush figure changes nothing.

Those three readings are from the Commission’s Guidance document No 4, section 2. It is guidance, not law; only the EU Court of Justice interprets the law with authority. The Toy Safety Regulation writes the same test into the law from 2030: a product is for play by children under 14 when “a parent or supervisor can reasonably assume, by virtue of the functions, dimensions and characteristics of that product” that it is (Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What is not a toy

Two lists take products out. The first names toys the Directive does not apply to at all: playground equipment for public use, automatic playing machines for public use, toy vehicles with combustion engines, toy steam engines, and slings and catapults (Art. 2(2)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 2, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The second names products that are not toys in the first place (Annex I):

The list gives examples; a product not on it is judged against the definition itself (Guidance document No 4, section 2). A product that is not a toy still has to be safe. The General Product Safety Regulation covers it insofar as no other EU law sets safety rules with the same objective for it (GPSR Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Some products on the list have an EU product law of their own, such as fireworks under the pyrotechnic articles Directive 2013/29/EU.

From 1 August 2030 the Toy Safety Regulation keeps both lists with changes (Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2025/2509Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.). Decorative objects are out only when they “do not have a play value”. Paintball equipment is added, and so are reading and educational books for children over 36 months with no play value. Luminaires are out only when “continuously wired”. Slings and catapults are no longer named among the excluded toys; in our reading, those made for play by children fall under the Regulation from 2030.

Which age a toy is for

The Directive sets no age grades beyond one line: 36 months. Toys “clearly intended for use by children under 36 months” and their detachable parts must be too big to be swallowed or inhaled (Annex II, Part I, point 4(d)). A toy not meant for them that might still be dangerous to them carries the under-36-months warning (Annex V, Part B, point 1). The general safety requirement weighs the ability of the users, in particular for toys for children under 36 months (Art. 10(2)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 10, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission’s Guidance document No 11 (section 3) sets the rules authorities use to draw that line:

• If children can start using the toy before 36 months and go on using it after, it has to be safe for children under 36 months.
• Small parts or a strangulation risk do not by themselves make a toy one for older children.
• A “Not suitable for children under 36 months” warning “must not be used as a justification to claim that a toy is for children above 36 months of age and incorrectly apply less demanding tests”.
• Rattles and squeeze toys are usually clearly toys for children under three.

For finer age grades the guidance points to CEN ISO/TR 8124-8:2016. It is guidance, not law, written to help the EU countries’ authorities and businesses classify toys.

Which warnings a toy must carry

Every toy that needs one carries a warning with its user limits: at least the minimum or maximum age and, where relevant, the abilities needed, the maximum or minimum weight of the user, and the need for adult supervision (Art. 11(1)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Annex V, Part A). Each warning is preceded by “Warning” or “Warnings” and is marked clearly on the toy, a label or the packaging, and in the instructions where appropriate. Small toys sold without packaging carry the warnings on the toy (Art. 11(2)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Each EU country may require the warnings in a language its consumers easily understand (Art. 11(3)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Some categories carry a fixed warning. Points 2 to 10 must be used exactly as worded (Art. 11(1)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Annex V, Part B). The quotes below are the law’s own wording:

“Choking hazard” is not EU wording. The EU warning is the under-36-months one, with a brief indication of the specific hazard, which may sit in the instructions (Annex V, Part B, point 1). A warning may not be used where it conflicts with the toy’s intended use (Art. 11(1)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., third subparagraph); the Commission’s age guidance names the under-36-months warning on a toy made for that age as the case to avoid.

The Toy Safety Regulation tightens the form from 2030. The warnings are preceded by “Warning” or by a generic pictogram, a black exclamation mark on a yellow triangle, at least 10 mm in size. The text has an x-height of at least 1.2 mm, or 0.9 mm on packaging whose largest side is under 80 cm²; the under-36-months pictogram is at least 10 mm in diameter (Art. 6Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; its Annex III, points 1 and 2).

Where the warnings must show when you sell online

The Directive says it outright: “Warnings which determine the decision to purchase the toy, such as those specifying the minimum and maximum ages for users and the other applicable warnings set out in Annex V, shall appear on the consumer packaging or be otherwise clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, including in cases where the purchase is made on-line” (Art. 11(2)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 11, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., third subparagraph).

The General Product Safety Regulation adds its own rule for online offers, and it applies to toys too. For a product under its own EU product law, GPSR switches off its Chapter III, Section 1, but not Section 2, where the online rule and the accident duty sit (GPSR Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., third subparagraph, point (b); GPSR Art. 19Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., GPSR Art. 20Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.); the Toy Safety Regulation’s recital 6 says the same. Every offer shows clearly and visibly (GPSR Art. 19Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

• the manufacturer’s name or trademark, and its postal and electronic address;
• where the manufacturer is outside the EU, the name and addresses of the EU-based operator;
• information to identify the toy, including a picture, its type and any other identifier;
• every warning and safety information that goes on the toy or the packaging, in the language of the country you sell to.

The Commission’s Blue Guide, section 4.5.1.4, adds for online sales that “it is useful that the CE marking and any required warnings according to applicable legislation are indicated in that website and are visible before the end user is carrying out the purchase.” That is guidance, not law. From 1 August 2030 the Toy Safety Regulation makes it law for the warnings and for the passport’s data carrier, “including in cases where the purchase is made through distance sales” (Art. 6(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 6, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 19(7)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 19, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Online marketplaces must then let you show the CE marking, the warnings and the passport link (Art. 14(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 14, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What each marketplace asks for today is in GPSR marketplace requirements.

How a toy gets its CE marking

The CE marking is the manufacturer’s statement that the toy meets the law. Before affixing it, the manufacturer does four things.

1. The safety assessment. An analysis of the chemical, physical, mechanical, electrical, flammability, hygiene and radioactivity hazards the toy may present, and of the potential exposure to them (Art. 18Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). These are also the common safety concerns an authority looks at.

2. One of two conformity routes (Art. 19Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

The harmonised standards for toys are listed in Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/740, last amended on 11 September 2026:

Following them gives a presumption of conformity for what they cover (Art. 13Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 13Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). EN 71-1 has been listed with a restriction since 10 September 2025 (Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1785, in force on the day of its publication): for wave rollers, a ride-on toy steered and pushed with the feet, its clauses 3.19 and 4.15.1 give no presumption of conformity. A wave roller therefore goes to a notified body. The restriction concerns only the toys it applies to: the Commission’s explanatory guidance on the Directive, section 4.2.3, says the third case is when a standard has been published “with restriction which applies to the toy in question” (guidance). The Directive does not say who runs the testing on the first route. It asks for the test reports in the technical documentation (Annex IV, point (g)). The Commission’s technical documentation guidance, section 8, says the manufacturer may run the tests or an external source may, and calls test reports drawn up to ISO/IEC 17025 advisable, not required; authorities “shall take due account” of a report from a laboratory accredited under Regulation (EC) No 765/2008Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, accreditation and market surveillance (CE marking)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. (Art. 11(5)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Who tests, and what a notified body does instead, is in EN 71.

3. The technical documentation. A description of the design and manufacture with a list of components and materials and the safety data sheets of the chemicals used, the safety assessment, the conformity route followed, a copy of the declaration, the addresses of the places of manufacture and storage, the test reports, or the EC-type examination certificate and the papers sent to the notified body (Art. 21Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 21Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Annex IV). The manufacturer keeps it for 10 years after the toy is placed on the market (Art. 4(3)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 4, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). An authority can ask for it, or for a translation, and give 30 days, “unless a shorter deadline is justified in the case of serious and immediate risk” (Art. 21(3)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 21, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

4. The EC declaration of conformity. It states that the requirements have been met, follows the model structure of Annex III, is translated into the language the EU country requires, and makes the manufacturer responsible for the toy’s compliance (Art. 15Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Then the CE marking goes on “visibly, legibly and indelibly” on the toy, an affixed label or the packaging, before the toy is placed on the market. Small toys may carry it on a label or a leaflet. If it is not visible from outside the packaging, it also goes on the packaging (Art. 17Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 17Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The rules on its shape and size for every product are in CE marking.

A “toy safety certificate” is not a document the Directive names. Its only certificate is the EC-type examination certificate of a notified body, reviewed at least every five years (Art. 20(4)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 20, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The European Commission’s toy safety page names the same two routes: self-verification with the harmonised standards, or third-party verification by a notified body.

Which chemicals the law limits

Toy chemistry is strict and detailed. The limits sit in Annex II, Part III, and the EN 71-3, EN 71-12 and related tests measure them. In outline, under the Directive as last amended:

• Substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (CMR), category 1A, 1B or 2, may not be used in toys or their parts, except in small concentrations, where children cannot reach them, or where the Commission has allowed them (points 3 to 5).
• Migration limits apply to 19 listed elements and compounds, among them lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium VI, nickel and organic tin (point 13).
• Nitrosamines and nitrosatable substances are banned where their migration is at or above 0.05 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg, in toys for children under 36 months and in toys meant to go in the mouth (point 8).
• A list of allergenic fragrances is banned, with traces up to 100 mg/kg allowed where technically unavoidable; others must be named on the toy, its label, the packaging or a leaflet when added above 100 mg/kg (point 11).
• Toys that are themselves chemical mixtures follow the CLP Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, and play cosmetics follow cosmetics law (points 2 and 10).
• Electric toys run on no more than 24 volts (Part IV, point 1).

Toys also meet the general chemicals law. REACH restricts certain phthalates in toys, among other things; that is on REACH compliance.

From 1 August 2030 the Regulation bans whole classes of substances, among them PFAS, endocrine disruptors and ten bisphenols, with listed exceptions. The list is on the Toy Safety Regulation page.

What each role owes

In short: the manufacturer makes the toy safe and proves it; the importer makes sure the proof exists before the toy enters the EU; the distributor checks what is visible and what it was given.

A toy is one of the products for which an economic operator based in the EU must be responsible before it is placed on the market (Art. 4(1)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 4(5)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.). It is the manufacturer if based in the EU; otherwise the importer, an authorised representative with a written mandate, or a fulfilment service provider based in the EU for the toys it handles, but only “where no other economic operator as mentioned in points (a), (b) and (c) is established in the Union” (Art. 4(2)Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 4, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (d)). For a toy this rule comes from that Regulation, not from GPSR; who can hold the role is on the EU Responsible Person.

Selling from outside the EU straight to EU buyers, you are still reached. An offer aimed at end users in the EU counts as making the toy available in the EU (Art. 6Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.). Great Britain has its own toy law, the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011; it is not EU law and is not covered here.

When the Toy Safety Regulation takes over

The Toy Safety Regulation (EU) 2025/2509Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. repeals the Directive on 1 August 2030: a toy unit placed on the market before that date may still be sold, but a unit placed from 1 August 2030 must meet the Regulation and carry a digital product passport (Art. 56Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 56Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 57(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 57, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 19Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). EC-type examination certificates issued under the Directive stay valid until 1 February 2031 unless they expire earlier, which does not extend placing (Art. 57(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 57, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The dates, the passport, the registry, the customs check and the new chemical bans are on the Toy Safety Regulation page.

What happens if you sell without it

Where an authority has reason to believe a toy presents a risk, it evaluates it against the whole Directive. If the toy does not comply, it requires the business to bring it into compliance, withdraw it or recall it within a period it sets. If the business does not act, the authority prohibits or restricts the toy, withdraws it or recalls it, and tells the Commission and the other EU countries (Art. 42(1)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 42, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 42(4)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 42, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Paper faults alone are enough. A missing or wrongly affixed CE marking, a missing or incorrect declaration of conformity, or missing or incomplete technical documentation must be put right; if they persist, the toy is restricted, prohibited, withdrawn or recalled (Art. 45Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 45Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Each EU country sets the penalties. They “may include criminal sanctions for serious infringements” and may be raised for a repeat offence (Art. 51Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 51Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation keeps both routes and adds a missing passport or data carrier to the paper faults (Art. 45Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 45Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 47Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 47Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 55Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 55Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What the law leaves open

• A standard with a restriction today. The Directive sends a toy to EC-type examination “where one or more of the harmonised standards referred to in point (a) has been published with a restriction” (Art. 19(3)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 19, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (c)). EN 71-1 carries such a restriction, for wave rollers. The restriction concerns only the toys it applies to: the Directive’s text does not say so in words, but the Commission’s explanatory guidance reads it that way (section 4.2.3), and the Regulation writes it into the law, “and the restriction is applicable to the toy in question” (Art. 26(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, Toy Safety RegulationArticle 26, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (c)), from 1 August 2030. A toy that relies on EN 71-1 and is not a wave roller is therefore not sent to a notified body by the restriction. The Directive leaves the route open to any manufacturer that considers third-party checking necessary (Art. 19(3)Directive 2009/48/EC, Toy Safety DirectiveArticle 19, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (d)). The standard itself is in EN 71.
• Where the age line falls. The law draws only the 36-month line. The Commission’s age guidance is not binding, and authorities decide case by case (Guidance document No 11, introduction).

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