The warning comes from the Swedish toy and baby industry, which, together with the European industry organization Toy Industries of Europe (TIE), has investigated over a hundred different toys without a brand or with an unknown brand. The toys were purchased on ten sales platforms within and outside the EU.
Laboratory tests showed that 82 of the 102 toys do not meet the EU's safety standards. This includes, among other things, teething rings that easily break into small pieces, posing a choking hazard, and a drawing board whose small button batteries can easily be removed and pose a life-threatening risk if swallowed by a child.
According to TIE, a loophole is being exploited, which allows actors outside the EU to sell toys without being responsible for product safety if the sale takes place through an e-commerce platform.
"If thousands of toy manufacturers across the EU, 99 percent of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, can take responsibility for the safety of their products, then online platforms should also be able to do so," says TIE's Director-General Catherine Van Reeth in a press release.
The toys were purchased from Allegro, AliExpress, Amazon Marketplace, Bol, Cdiscount, Fruugo, Light In The Box, Shein, Temu, and Wish.
