WRITTEN QUESTION P-3911/00

by Minerva Malliori (PSE) to the Commission

(6 December 2000)

Subject: Revision of the Directive on the safety of toys

Recently the European market has seen the arrival of electronic toys and video games imported from third countries, such as Pokemon, in which the heroes are endowed with supernatural properties and portrayed in such a way that children identify with them and behave in a dangerous manner, endangering their psychological and physical health.

Given that some Member States such as Sweden have banned the import of toys of this kind, does the Commission intend to investigate the effect they have on the development of children and to take appropriate counter-measures?

The European Directive on the safety of toys 88/378/EEC(1) is relatively old and thus does not cover video games and all the new types of toy. Does the Commission intend to revise the above Directive to lay down parameters relating not only to the physical health and wellbeing of children but also to the effect of these new types of toy on their psychological and mental state?

(1) OJ L 187, 16.7.1988, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(22 January 2001)

Concerning the effect of video games on the psychological health of children, the Honourable Member is referred to the Commission's reply to Written Question E-1182/98 from Mrs Karamanou(1).

Council Directive 88/378/EEC of 3 May 1988, on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning the safety of toys, sets the safety conditions that toys must meet before being placed in the market. At the time of adoption of this Directive, the legislator decided that the safety requirements should cover health hazards and the risk of physical injury only. The Commission intends to examine the need for a revision of the Directive during 2001. The issue raised by the Honourable Member will be considered in that context.

Until any future legislation is adopted, any measure taken by a Member State to protect the psychological health of children from toys has in principle to be notified under Directive 98/34/EC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations(2), in order to allow an analysis of the conformity of the measure with Articles 28-30 (ex Articles 30-36) of the EC Treaty.

Moreover, Decision No 372/99/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 February 1999 adopting a programme of Community action on injury prevention in the framework for action in the field of public health (1999-2003)(3) includes the analysis of the risk factors (including psychological risks) associated with injuries. The concept of injury in this programme includes, among others, home and leisure accidents involving children and certain aspects associated with damage. The establishment of an injury data-collection and information system, and the epidemiological analysis of the data, are the first actions to be instituted. A network concerning the epidemiology of injuries has been set up with experts appointed in the Member States: examining the influence of this type of game on children's health will be one of the subjects dealt with in the short term as part of the study of the extent and impact of these video games on children's physical and mental health.

(1) OJ C 13, 20.1.1999.

(2) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998.

(3) OJ L 46, 20.2.1999.