If you make toys or children’s products to sell, you are legally required to ensure they are safe. To sell toys in Europe and NI, they have to have CE Mark and, in the UK, a UKCA mark.
To apply the CE or UKCA mark to your toy, it will need to be tested to the EN71 standards.
You can do it 2 ways:
1) Send it to a lab (costly).
2) Do it yourself – self-certification.
If you would like to do it yourself, you need to perform:
- Flammability test (burning the toy to check if the child will have enough time to drop a burning toy)
- Physical test (series of physical tests to check how strongly constructed it is and if there are any choking and strangulation hazards)
- Chemical test – EN71-3 (this test is to check how many harmful substances can migrate to babies body if a toy or components of a toy were to be swallowed by a child)
Whereas the first two are pretty easy to perform yourself, you can’t do a chemical test at home. Here you also have 2 options.
1) Send your toy to a laboratory that tests each component (yarn, safety eyes, stuffing). This costs in a range of £45-60 per component.
2) Use components that have already been tested to EN71-3 standards applying the principles of ‘due diligence.
Applying the principles of due diligence means that the fact that all components from the same company (i.e., Dreamy Wool Cuddle Soft Chunky Yarn) are made from the same materials, using the same dyeing process and chemicals and are produced in the same factory, means you can assume that all products in that range will meet the same standards.
To make your life as a maker easier and save you the cost of doing a chemical test yourself, we’ve sent our yarn to a laboratory to be tested according to EN71-3 standards. We are pleased to say our yarn has passed this test, and we can offer this certificate free of charge. You can download it by clicking here.
For more information on CE and UKCA marks, go to:
Selling toys in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/toys-safety-regulations-2011
Selling toys in Europe and Northern Ireland: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/ce-marking_en
Great blog about toys safety marks: https://www.cemarking-handmadetoys.co.uk/