SGS: Nepal to implement new set of chemical requirements for toy safety

Nepal is proposing to implement a new set of chemical requirements for toy safety. If approved, the new measures could become effective in late 2018/early 2019.

GENEVA, 29-Jun-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — In March 2017, we informed you [1]that Nepal had implemented measures to regulate nine heavy metals, bromine, phthalates and BPA in toys for children 0-16 years of age. These toy standards became effective in July 2017.

On May 30, 2018, the World Trade Organization (WTO) circulated a notification from Nepal announcing its intention to revise the requirements for hazardous substances in toys. The Draft Technical Regulation on Children’s Toys [2], attached to WTO document number 18-3239 [3] and notified under G/TBT/N/NPL/5, contains a number of important changes. These include the following:

Designating ISO 8124-3:2010 as the method for testing the migration of seven heavy metals
Designating XRF as the method for assessing lead content (total lead) in paints or similar surface coating materials, paint on painted materials and accessible substrates.
Deleting requirements for bisphenol A (BPA), bromine, phthalates and zinc

Highlights of the draft technical regulation on children’s toys and a comparison with existing requirements are summarized in Table 1.

	Draft Technical Regulation on Children’s Toys (WTO document # 18-3293)	Criteria Related to Children’s Toys [4]
Scope	Toys for children 0-16 years of age	Toys for children 0-16 years of age
Requirement (mg/kg or ppm)	≤ 60 mg/kg (antimony)≤ 25 mg/kg (arsenic) ≤ 1000 mg/kg (barium) ≤ 75 mg/kg (cadmium) ≤ 60 mg/kg (chromium) ≤ 60 mg/kg (mercury) ≤ 500 mg/kg (selenium) ≤ 90 mg/kg (lead in paints or paint on painted materials) ≤ 100 mg/kg (lead in accessible substrates)	≤ 60 mg/kg (antimony) ≤ 25 mg/kg (arsenic) ≤ 1000 mg/kg (barium) ≤ 75 mg/kg (cadmium) ≤ 60 mg/kg (chromium) ≤ 60 mg/kg (mercury) ≤ 500 mg/kg (selenium) ≤ 90 mg/kg (lead), ≤ 3.75 mg/kg (zinc), ≤ 100 mg/kg (bromine), ≤ 100 mg/kg (phthalates), and prohibition of BPA (BPA-free)
Method	ISO 8124-3:2010 for antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury and selenium XRF for lead	XRF or AAS for heavy metals HPLC for BPA GCMS for phthalates
Effective Date	Potentially late 2018/early 2019 (181 days after publication in the Official Gazette)	July 2017

Table 1

Abbreviations

Item	Abbreviation	Name
1	AAS	Atomic Absorption Spectrometry
2	GCMS	Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry
3	HPLC	High Performance Liquid Chromatography
4	XRF	X-Ray Fluorescence

Table 2

NEXT STEP:

Stakeholders are advised to comply with the latest toy safety requirements for the Nepali market.

SGS is committed to providing information about development in regulations for consumer products as complimentary services. Through a global network of laboratories, SGS provides a wide range of services including physical/mechanical testing, analytical testing and consultancy work for technical and non-technical parameters applicable to a comprehensive range of consumer products. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.

For enquiries, please contact:

Hingwo Tsang
Global Information and Innovation Manager
t: +852 2774 7420

Stay on top of regulatory changes within your industry: subscribe to SafeGuardS!

Read more articles for the Consumer Goods and Retail industry

_{© SGS Group Management SA – 2018 – All rights reserved – SGS is a registered trademark of SGS Group Management SA. This is a publication of SGS, except for 3rd parties’ contents submitted or licensed for use by SGS. SGS neither endorses nor disapproves said 3rd parties contents. This publication is intended to provide technical information and shall not be considered an exhaustive treatment of any subject treated. It is strictly educational and does not replace any legal requirements or applicable regulations. It is not intended to constitute consulting or professional advice. The information contained herein is provided “as is” and SGS does not warrant that it will be error-free or will meet any particular criteria of performance or quality. Do not quote or refer any information herein without SGS’s prior written consent.}

SOURCE: SGS SA