. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/180 
6 February 2008 
 (08-0565) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [ X ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Magnetic toys 
(HS:  9503; ICS:  13, 97.200- TBC) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision requiring Member States to ensure that  magnetic toys placed or made available on 
the market display a warning about the health  and safety risks they pose (8 pages, in 
English). 
6. Description of content:   Temporary Decision in order to rapidly make the placing and 
making available on the market of magnetic toys subject to the condition that they are marked with an adequate warning of the risk s linked to the presence of powerful magnets or 
magnetic components of ingestible shape a nd size that are accessi ble to children.  
The Decision is valid only for one year and is re newable. The intention is to bridge the time 
gap until the ongoing revision of the releva nt toy safety standard EN 71-1:2005 is 
completed thereby providing a comprehensive solution to the problem identified. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Pending the entry into force of the revision to standard EN 71-1:2005, it is necessary to 
address immediately the risks posed by magnetic to ys in order to minimise further accidents 
to children caused by these toys by im proving the knowledge of the risks. G/TBT/N/EEC/180 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety 
Council Directive 88/378/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States 
concerning the safety of toys, as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    March/April 2008  
Two months from the date of adoption of the 
Decision by the Commission (see Article 3). 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from date of notification 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [    ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
The text is available on the EC-TBT Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/    
and 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2008/tbt/EEC/08_0354_00_e.pdf