NEWS

GUIDANCE DOCUMENT No. 15 ON THE APPLICATION OF THE DIRECTIVE ON THE SAFETY OF TOYS

Writing instruments and stationary items

The Safety of Toys Directive 2009 /48/EC defines toys as products "designed or intended, whether or not exclusively, for use in play by children under 14 years of age", but does not contain any specific provisions concerning writing materials.

Colouring and painting articles are considered as toys according to the Toy safety Directive 2009/48/EC, provided that these products are not intended for artistic use.

Writing or drawing articles which can not only write, but can also be used for play (blowing bubbles pens, animal shaped pens, etc) are considered as toys and have to comply with the Toy safety directive's requirements.

Stationery items generally have an educational and functional purpose. Adding features and decorations is not generally considered as enough to change the purpose of these products, as no play value is introduced. This line of reasoning may apply to notebooks, address books, kits containing pencils, stickers, writing sets containing pads of paper, envelopes and sometimes a pen, all colored or decorated with coordinated patterns, sheets of stickers for decorating letter paper, rulers, compasses etc. Stationery items have to comply with the general safety requirement contained in Directive 2001/95/EC (General Product Safety Directive).

However, when a play value is intentionally introduced by the manufacturer in addition to the functional and education value of stationery items and according to indicative criteria laid down in "Guidance document No. 4 on the classification of grey zone products", the product can be considered to be a toy and has to comply with the Toy safety directive’s requirements.

Writing instruments and stationary classified as toys have to comply with the Toy safety directive 2009/48/EC and other applicable EU legislation, e.g. entries 51 and 52 of the REACH Regulation related to phthalates. Manufacturers may also refer to international standards such as ISO 11540 "Caps for writing and marking instruments intended for use by children up to 14 years of age - Safety requirements" when assessing the hazards the toy may present.

Please refer to the below PDF for detail:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/toys/files/guidance-documents/015_guidance_document_classification_of_writing_intruments_and_stationery_items_en.pdf