Brazil has published an Ordinance to revise the country’s requirements for toys and school supplies. The amendment became effective on June 24, 2020.
On June 24, 2020, the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMETRO)) published Ordinance No. 217 of June 18, 2020 (Portario No. 217, de 18 de Junho de 2020, (‘the Ordinance’)) to revise two pieces of legislation in relation to toys and school supplies. These are:
- Ordinance No. 481 of December 7, 2010 ‘Assessment Requirements for Compliance with School Supplies’
- Ordinance No. 563 of December 29, 2016 ‘Technical Regulation and Conformity Assessment Requirements for Toys’
The Ordinance became effective on June 24, 2020 – the date of its publication in the Diário Oficial da União (DOU, federal official gazette).
With respect to school supplies, the Ordinance removes ‘modeling clay’ from the scope of Ordinance No. 481 of December 7, 2010. ‘Modeling clay’ was added to toys and these products must be certified according to Ordinance 563/2016.
The Ordinance contains a comprehensive set of changes for toys under Ordinance No. 563 of December 29, 2016. These include, inter alia, the following:
- Setting new compliance dates for domestic manufacturers, importers, distributors and other businesses that carry out trade activities for compliance with the Ordinance on toy safety
- Setting a new compliance date of January 1, 2022 for toys containing expanded ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer to comply with the more stringent limit for formamide content (from 0.5% to 0.3%)
- A new set of complementary standards and documents, including a completely new standard for laser product safety, to be adopted for Technical Quality Regulation (Regulamento Técnico da Qualidade, RTQ, see Table 1)
- New definitions, including for ‘toy’ – any product designed or clearly intended for use in play by children under 14 (fourteen) years of age
- Extending the validity of the Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from ‘3 years’ to ‘5 years’
- Extending the maintenance evaluation period (audit and tests) from ‘6 months’ to ’12 months’ after the CoC has been issued
- A completely new requirement for all packaging to contain the supplier’s identification (ID), containing the company name or when available, the trade name and/or registered trademark and address. This ID and address can be abbreviated but must be clearly identified
- New warnings and statements, including those for marbles for the 0-3 age group
- New warning on packaging for aquatic toys
- New warnings for teethers and a completely new set of warnings for toy swings
- Modifying the list of products that are not considered as toys
According to the latest amendment, there are specific dates for toys to comply with the Ordinance on ‘Technical Regulation and Conformity Assessment Requirements for Toys’:
- January 1, 2022 for domestic manufacturers and importers
- January 1, 2023 for manufacturers and importers selling toys
- July 1, 2025 for businesses marketing toys
Highlights of a comparison between the ‘new’ and ‘old’ sets of complementary standards and documents in Annex I to Ordinance No. 563 of December 29, 2016 on toy safety are summarized in Table 1.
| Annex I Technical Regulation and Conformity Assessment Requirements for Toys | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ordinance No. 217 of June 18, 2020 amending Ordinance No. 563 of December 29, 2016 | Ordinance No. 563 of December 29, 2016 | |
| 1 | ABNT NBR NM 300-1:2011 ’General, mechanical and physical properties’ | ABNT NBR NM 300-1:2004 |
| 2 | ABNT NMR NM 300-2:2004 ‘Flammability’ | ABNT NMR NM 300-2:2004 |
| 3 | ABNT NBR NM 300-3:2011 ‘Migration of certain elements’ | ABNT NBR NM 300-3:2011 |
| 4 | ABNT NBR NM 300-4:2004 ‘Experimental sets for chemistry and related activities’ | ABNT NBR NM 300-4:2004 |
| 5 | ABNT NBR NM 300-5:2004 ‘Chemical toys (sets) other than chemistry sets | ABNT NBR NM 300-5:2004 |
| 6 | ABNT NBR NM 300-6:2004 ‘Electric toys’ | ABNT NBR NM 300-6:2004 |
| 7 | ABNT NBR 13793:2012 ‘Feeding bottles and nipples’ | ABNT NBR 13793:2012 |
| 8 | ABNT NBR 11786:1998 ‘Specifications’ – this cancelled standard is used for 2 tests in this RTQ on a normative basis | ABNT NBR 11786:1998 ‘Specifications’ – this cancelled standard is used for 2 tests in this RQT on a normative basis |
| 9 | ABNT NBR 16040:2018 ‘Phthalates – determination of phthalic plasticizers by gas chromatography’ | ABNT NBR 16040:2012 |
| 10 | ABNT ISO/TR 8124-8:2017 ‘Age determination guidelines’ | ABNT ISO/TR 8124-8:2015 |
| 11 | IEC 60825-1:2014 ‘Safety of laser products’ | --- |
| 12 | Inmetro Ordinance No. 250, 2016 | --- |
| 13 | --- | ASTM F963-11 ‘Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety’ |
Table 1
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