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Dangerous toys on the Internet: Children in high danger!
The complaint rate for toys is over 80 %in 2024. New EU regulations are to improve online controls.
Dangerous toys on the Internet: Children in high danger!
More and more Austrians are buying their toys online, and this is harbing considerable health risks! According to Anton Reinl, the director of the Federal Office for Consumer Health (BAVG), two thirds of the everyday purchases of Austrian consumers were online in 2023. The safety of children's toys is particularly worrying, which includes dangerous plasticizers and even potentially flammable products. The complaint rate for toys due to safety defects exceeded 80 percent in 2024. This shows the serious problems associated with the inadequate controls in online trading, such as Kleine Zeitung reports.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament took a crucial step to tighten the safety regulations for toys. With 603 yes votes, 5 no votes and 15 abstentions, a revised legal text was passed, which in particular addresses digital toys and the challenges of online shopping. Among other things, the ban on harmful chemicals is expanded to protect children from health risks. Marion Walsmann, a rapporteur of the EVP, emphasized that the new regulations ensure that children receive the safest toy. A new digital product passport is also introduced, which improves traceability and offers consumers more information, for example via QR codes. This was explained in a report by
The revised regulations require that toys with digital functions correspond to strict security and data protection standards. Manufacturers now also have to carry out safety reviews for their products in order to identify harmful chemicals and security risks. Despite existing strict EU regulations, dangerous toys continue to come onto the market. According to the EU Safety Gate, toys were the most frequently registered product category in 2022. This development illustrates the urgency of stricter controls and international cooperation in online trading, as is required by experts from AGES and the BAVG. safety standards for digital toys