Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2019
288. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the regulatory regime for the placement of children’s toys on the market here; her plans to update the standards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4363/19]
View answerDirective 2009/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the safety of toys, transposed into Irish law by S.I. No. 14 of 2011, places the onus on economic operators – manufacturers, distributors, importers – to ensure that only safe toys are placed on the market. If economic operators become aware that products on the market present a potential hazard, they must take appropriate measures, up to and including recall of the items, to ensure that the risk is removed. Any action taken by an operator must be notified to the relevant Market Surveillance Authority; in Ireland this is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC.
Where the CCPC finds unsafe toys on the Irish market, it will act to ensure economic operators remove the particular toy from the market until it is in compliance with the legislation. The CCPC is part of an EU-wide network (known as Safety Gate) that allows for the rapid exchange of information between national market surveillance authorities on dangerous products, including toys, found on the EU market.
Section 9 (5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the CCPC is independent in the performance of its functions, including carrying out investigations of unsafe toys. As investigations and enforcement matters generally are part of the day-to-day operational work of the CCPC, I, as the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation have no direct function in the matter.
Should the Deputy have any information in relation to unsafe toys on the Irish market, he should make contact with the CCPC directly to provide any relevant information on these matters.
In relation to standards, economic operators can demonstrate conformity with the safety requirements of Directive 2009/48/EC when they comply with certain voluntary European Union, EU, harmonised standards. EU standards are based on a consensus, which reflects the economic and social interests of 34 European Committee for Standardisation, CEN, Member countries channeled through their National Standardization Organizations (in Ireland, this is the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI). CEN, in Technical Committee 52, develops the standards concerned with toy safety. The evolution of the relevant standards has taken into account new types of toys and technologies and thereby potential new hazards.
