India has informed the WTO of its intention to regulate toys by requiring these products to comply with the latest version of a list of standards and to bear a Standard Mark. These will enter into force after six months from its publication in the Official Journal.
On February 7, 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) circulated a draft Order from India announcing its intention to regulate toys.
The draft Order, called the Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 and attached to WTO document number 20-0985, contains several important provisions:
- Requiring toys to conform to the latest version of a list of Indian Standards
- Requiring toys to bear the Standard Mark under a license from the Bureau, as per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018
- Directing the Bureau to be the certifying and enforcement authority
According to the WTO notification, comments for the draft Order were accepted until February 22, 2020. The proposed date of entry into force is six months from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
Highlights of the list of Indian Standards for toy safety in the draft Order are summarized in Table 1.
| WTO Document Number 20-0985, February 7, 2020 Draft Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Indian Standards (IS)* | Title |
| 1 | IS 9873 (Part 1): 2019 | Mechanical and Physical Properties |
| 2 | IS 9873 (Part 2): 2017 | Flammability |
| 3 | IS 9873 (Part 3): 2017 | Migration of Certain Elements |
| 4 | IS 9873 (Part 4): 2017 | Swings, Slides and Similar Activity Toys for Indoor and Outdoor Family Domestic Use |
| 5 | IS 9873 (Part 7): 2017 | Finger Paints |
| 6 | IS 9873 (Part 9): 2017 | Certain Phthalate Esters in Toys and Children’s Products |
| 7 | IS 15644:2006, reaffirmed year 2016 | Safety of Electric Toys |
| *The latest version of IS, including its amendments, as notified by the Bureau from time to time, will apply from the date of notification | ||
Table 1
In December 2019, India amended its import policy on toys by ‘sending randomly selected toy samples from each consignment to an NABL accredited lab for testing to determine customs clearance’
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