Court of Justice confirms that Germany must apply Toy Safety Directive limits

The Court of Justice of the European Union has judged that the ban against Germany retaining its limit values for arsenic, antimony and mercury in toys is upheld, and that Germany must apply the limits for these elements. The German requirements on toy safety must therefore be amended to be in line with the limit values in the Toy Safety Directive.

Full details can be found in the Court of Justice press release.

Germany can however continue to apply the old Toy Safety Directive limits for lead based on the contradictory legal arguments put forward by the Commission. The limits for lead are in any case under review. In the meantime, only the limit for scraped off material is of relevance for toy manufacturers placing product on the German market. The current Toy Safety Directive has much lower limits for liquids and dry or powdery toy materials.