WRITTEN QUESTION E-1492/01 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Phthalates in toys.
Date: 2001-05-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: consumer protection, dangerous substance, import, product safety, toy industry

C 340 E/232

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

In addition, the Commission has funded a project on the (cid:145)Enforcement on the Deliberate Release of GMOs(cid:146)
with the aim of having a common approach on the inspection and control activities in Member States and
increasing the direct contact of the inspection services.

The Joint Research Centre of the Commission is co-ordinating a network of GMO laboratories of Member
States with the aim to exchange information on methods for sampling and detection of GMOs and the
results of controls undertaken in the different Member States.

The detection of low level presence of non-approved varieties last and this year shows that controls in
Member States are being carried out and have been able to detect
traces of approved as well as
unapproved varieties in seed lots of conventional varieties of cotton, oilseed rape and maize.

(2001/C 340 E/268)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1492/01

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(18 May 2001)

Subject: Phthalates in toys

Does the Commission have any evidence that children(cid:146)s toys made of, or containing plastics softened with
phthalates are being imported into the European Union?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(29 June 2001)

Council Directive 88/378/EEC of 3 May 1988 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
concerning the Safety of Toys (1) applies to all toys to be placed on the Community market, without any
restriction concerning the origin of the products. Therefore, it is the responsibility of market surveillance
authorities from Member States to check that all toys (imported or not) comply with the legislation. This
also applies to the Commission Decision 1999/815/EC of 7 December 1999 adopting measures
prohibiting the placing on the market of toys and childcare articles intended to be placed in the mouth
by children under three years of age made of soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) containing one or more of the
substances di-iso-nonyl phthalate (DINP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di-iso-
decyl phthalate (DIDP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP), and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) (2) which bans the use
of six phthalate esters in soft PVC toys and childcare articles intended to be mouthed by children under the
age of three.

Member States must ensure that they are correctly applying Council Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 of
8 February 1993, on checks for conformity with the rules on product safety in the case of products
imported from third countries (3). The Regulation provides a framework for co-operation between customs
officers and product safety officers. Under this Regulation, customs authorities are given powers to
suspend the release of goods which create significant concern of a serious and immediate risk to health
and safety. The same applies where the required documentation or labelling is missing. Customs authorities
must notify market surveillance authorities of their decision to suspend release of a product on these
grounds, and surveillance authorities must then be in a position to take appropriate action.

In the framework of the rapid exchange of information among Member States for products that they
consider present a serious and immediate risk (RAPEX system), the Commission has received a very small
number (3-4) notifications that concern imported products containing phthalates. Given the vast number
of imported soft PVC toys, the small number of notifications confirms the general compliance of toys to
the provisions of the toy Directive and the Commission Decision.

4.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/233

Apart from the RAPEX notification, Member States have not communicated to the Commission any other
information concerning imported toys made of plastics softened with phthalates.

(1) OJ L 187, 16.7.1988.
(2) OJ L 315, 9.12.1999.
(3) OJ L 40, 17.2.1993.

(2001/C 340 E/269)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1503/01

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(11 May 2001)

Subject: White paper on chemicals policy

What analysis has the Commission made of the resources available within the European Union to carry
out the testing of 30 000 chemicals in the space of ten years, in terms of the availability of the necessary
scientific expertise, number of toxicologists and animal testing resources?

What additional provision will have to be made if the target is to be achieved?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 2001)

The overall extent of the testing cannot be predicted at present and will only become apparent in the
course of the evaluation process.

In order to keep testing to the indispensable minimum, the Commission has proposed substance-tailored
testing of substances depending on:

(cid:129) the information already available; for existing substances such information is only available to the

authorities for substances exceeding a production volume of 1 000 tonnes (1);

(cid:129) the use of the substances and the exposure scenarios;

(cid:129) the properties of the substances discovered through testing;

(cid:129) the chemical structure of the substance.

Out of the 30 000 substances, the Commission proposes animal testing for around 10 000 substances
exceeding a production volume of 10 tonnes. Testing of substances produced in volumes between 10-100
tonnes will generally focus on immediate or slightly delayed effects. Such testing only requires limited
resources (around € 85 000 per substance). Approximately 4 300 substances above 100 tonnes will have to
undergo in-depth testing for long term effects.

Testing obligations will not only affect the Community chemicals industry. Since importers will also be
obliged to carry out testing and evaluate the results, resources available world-wide will in fact be utilised
to generate the necessary information.

(1) Tonnage thresholds refer to volumes produced per manufacturer (or imported per importer) per annum.