News by TSU

CASP2021 - testing of electric toys

Last year, our testing laboratory participated in the European Commission's project for testing electric toys.

In 2021, the submitted offer of TSÚ Piešťany, š.p., for testing electric toys for the CASP2021 project won the competition of international testing laboratories. The project involved testing four categories of electric toys: ride-on toys, battery toys, toys with lasers and other light sources, and remote control toys.

The contract with the tenderer, Ernst & Young, Belgium, was signed in June 2021 and sample testing has been ongoing since September. In addition to the TSÚ Piešťany, š.p. testing laboratory, the laboratory Labeko s.r.o., Piešťany, also cooperated on the project, which performed tests of lead and cadmium content, as well as tests of phthalates in soft plastics, and the Public Health Office, Bratislava, which performed tests on lasers and light emitting diodes. Samples for the project were taken by market surveillance authorities in the following countries: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Finland, Sweden, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Lithuania and Luxembourg. A total of 130 samples were collected and tested, of which 22 samples were intended for children under 36 months.

In January 2022, the final evaluation meeting for the project was held in the premises of TSÚ Piešťany, š.p., which was attended online by representatives of individual market surveillance authorities. The participants virtually took part in a lab tour, discussed the course and results of the tests with the representatives of the laboratories, and evaluated the risks arising from the test results.



On 23. June 2022 a final meeting for the media was held in Brussels, where the results of the whole project were presented to the public.
The test results showed that among the tested samples, 33% of toys with batteries, 7% of ride-on toys, 2% of toys with lasers or other light sources and 5% of toys with remote control did not meet the requirements of the standards. In terms of sales channels, 17% of toys taken from brick-and-mortar stores were unsatisfactory, while up to 47% of toys from online stores were unsatisfactory. Results by age group showed that 27% of samples from children over 36 months failed, while 4% of toys under 36 months failed. Several deficiencies concerned labeling, warnings and operating instructions included with products where up to 49 out of 130 samples did not meet the requirements. Other shortcomings were the possibility to remove the battery from the toy without the need for tools, the possibility of activating the electric scooter during charging, insufficient resistance of external parts to high temperatures, exceeding the beam limit for laser toys, exceeding the permissible limits for lead and cadmium (26 products), as well as exceeding the permissible content of phthalates (7 products).

Appropriate conclusions were drawn from the presented results by the market surveillance authorities of individual countries and the risks that need to be taken into account in the mentioned groups of electric toys were evaluated. In this way, too, it helps to increase the safety of products that are placed on the European Union market, especially those intended for the most vulnerable consumers - children.