Safety of Aquatic Products for Children
Aquatic Items for Children
aquatic
According to EU and local legislation (and standards) items that are intended to be used, by children, in association with aquatic (water) environments may fall under different product categories and thus may be required to comply with different legal requirements. It should never be presumed that all articles intended for children are toy products.
Mainly these categories are:
• Aquatic toys (items for children’s play in shallow water environments) ;
• Beach toys (e.g. spades, buckets, inflatable toys, etc);
• Toys that are intended for indoor use, (e.g. bathtub toys); and
• Items that may be percieved as toys but in actual fact do not fall under such category (e.g. swimming aids and other personal protective equipment).
Further details regarding these categories may be accessed at the end of this section.
As explained in the sub-section titled Toys under the section Product Categories the local legislation concerning toys is the [Safety of Toys Regulations 2002 - >http://justiceservices.gov.mt/Downl...] issued as a legal notice under the Product Safety Act, 2001. These regulations transpose EU Council Directive 88/378/EEC – Toys Directive. A new Toys [Directive- http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sect...] has been issued, but 88/378/EEC is still in force and the New Directive has not been transposed to Maltese legislation. Nevertheless, most of the provisions of the present Directive will be repealed by 2011, and the rest by 2013. Point 7 of Annex 1 of the new Directive clearly stipulates that swimming learning devices for children, such as swim seats and swimming aids are not toys.
Toys are defined as any product or material designed or clearly intended for use in play by children of less than 14 years of age but excluding those products which are listed in Schedule I of the Safety of Toys Regulations. Thus, to be regarded as a toy an item must have play value. This legislation also stipulates that toys cannot be placed on the market unless they meet the applicable essential safety requirements. Products that are designed and manufactured according to the applicable harmonized standards are presumed to comply with the essential safety requirements. When these standards are not applied, in part or in full, a Notified Body (a test house that is notified with the European Commission) has to certify the product as conforming to such requirements.
In all cases, the manufacturer or authorized representative has to affix the CE mark to the toy product (or where this is not possible on the packaging of the product) before placing it on the market. This means that in case of toys, the CE mark is a symbol that shows compliance to the Directive.
As indicated earlier, products other than toys may also be intended for use by children in aquatic environments. For instance, swimming aids (such as arm bands) and goggles are not regarded as toys, but are still regarded as aquatic items. These fall under the remit of the Personal Protective Equipment Directive. Further information concerning this product category may be found in the article Personal Protective Equipment under the section Product Categories, and in the dedicated website of DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission. Matters concerning such items are explained in further detail under the section titled Non-Toys Aquatic Items.
If a product does not fall under any specific legislation, it would still have to comply with the general safety requirement of the General Product Safety Directive and Product safety Act 2001.
Categories
Aquatic Toys
Toys associated to aquatic environments other than aquatic toys
Non-Toy Aquatic Products
