What are CE and UKCA Marking/Compliance?
CE marking stands for Conformité Européenne (European Conformity). The marking indicates that a product has been assessed by the manufacturer and deemed safe to meet EU safety requirements.
For toys, affixed CE marking is a declaration of compliance with the essential safety requirements. Assessment is against EN71 series of standards and EN62115 for electrical toys and that they do not contain chemicals defined as carcinogenic etc.
Essential safety requirements
These cover all the following criteria:
1. Physical and mechanical properties
2. Flammability properties
3. Chemical properties
4. Electrical properties
5. Radioactive properties
These relate to the 2009/48EC toy safety directive - you can download a PDF explaining more about the directive here.
Sometimes the safety standards are inadequate for the toy: this does not necessarily mean that the toys are unsafe. Toy safety directive has provisions to re-assess safety against other published National, European, International Standards and guidelines under “type approval process”.
Rules of the toy safety directive are that type approval can only be conducted by EU notified bodies. Following Brexit, UK’s previous “EU notified bodies” status is transferred to “UK approved bodies”.
Type approval examinations are rare and not necessary to toys manufactured in accordance with the standards.
UKCA Marking
In principle, the UK has adopted the toy safety directive into their own national directive and requires UKCA marking, which stands for United Kingdom Conformity Assessment.
The UK has extended acceptance of CE marking until 31st December 2023, which should be replaced by the UKCA mark from 1st January 2024.
Both marks indicate “presumptive conformity” to all relevant requirements and are intended for free movement of goods.
The toy safety directive 2009/48EC as amended by (EU) 2021/1992, specifies the following harmonised safety standards:
EN71-1, Part 1, Mechanical and physical properties
EN71-2, Part 2, Flammability properties
EN71-3, Part 3, Migration of certain elements
EN71-4, Part 4, Experimental sets for chemistry and related activities
EN71-5, Part 5, Chemical toys (sets) other than chemistry sets
EN71-7, Part 7, Finger paints
EN71-8, Part 8, Activity toys for domestic use
EN71-12, Part 12, N- Nitrosamines and N-nitrosatable substances
EN71-13, Part 13, Olfactory board games, cosmetic kits and gustative games
EN71-14, Part 14, Trampolines for domestic use
EN 62115, Electrical properties
At Northern Testhouse Leicester, we can ensure that your toys conform to all appropriate standards with our quick and easy certification process.
After an initial review, we will test your product and assess its conformity for the relevant safety test and certification needed to import, distribute, or sell it.
If your product passes, you will receive :
The product test reports
The UK/EU/other country certification you need
Should your product fail, we will advise you on how to make it safe.