1 Lead Laboratories for the development and validation of test methods for a standard on phenol,

2 Peer Review Laboratories to support the development and validation of test methods for certain standards,

and for

5 Reference Material Suppliers to provide the reference materials for the test method development and validation

In July 2009 Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys entered into force. With mandate M/445 of July 2009 the European Commission (EC) asked the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) to make the necessary adjustments to European standards taking into account Directive 2009/48/EC which revised Directive 88/378/EEC and to elaborate new standards if necessary.

In Resolution BT C066/2009, the CEN Technical Board (BT) accepted mandate M/445 under certain conditions and allocated the work to the Technical Committee CEN/TC 52 “Safety of toys”. In the meantime, the relevant European Standards have been revised and additional new standards have been elaborated in order to fulfil the mandate.

In the last couple of years several European Directives have been adopted which introduced new limit values in Directive 2009/48/EC, Annex II, Appendix C (see Annex E for an overview of the Directives and limit values relevant for this project).

The limit values specified in Appendix C apply to toys intended for use by children under 36 months or in other toys intended to be placed in the mouth. These limit values are not yet addressed by harmonized European standards. For certain limit values the Commission directives refer to EN 71­10:2005 and EN 71­11:2005. These standards have not been cited in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and the procedures specified in these standards were not developed and validated for the stricter limit values specified in the Commission Directives.

The European Commission and EFTA have decided to provide financial support for a project on the development and validation of test methods and standardization work for certain limit values specified in Appendix C. This project consists of the following subprojects:

• Elaboration of a new standard EN 71-aa “Safety of toys – Part aa: Formamide in foamed toy materials”
• Elaboration of a new standard EN 71-bb “Safety of toys – Part bb: TCEP and alternative flame retardants”
• Elaboration of a new standard EN 71-cc “Safety of toys – Part cc: Isothiazolinones in aqueous (toy) materials”
• Elaboration of a new standard EN 71-dd “Safety of toys – Part dd: Phenol”
• Elaboration of a new standard EN 71-ee “Safety of toys – Part ee: Bisphenol A”

For each of those subprojects, a Lead Laboratory and a Peer Review Laboratory will be contracted which will cooperate in the development and validation of the required test method(s). In addition, for each subproject a Reference Material Supplier will be selected which will provide the reference materials required for the test method development and validation. Furthermore, a Statistician will support the validation of test methods of all of these five subprojects. Finally, a Task Group Convenor (Technical Project Leader) will be responsible for the coordination of the overall project.

These new test method(s) will form the basis for the drafting of the new standards, with participation of the Task Group Convenor (Technical Project Leader).

Certain project roles have already been assigned in a first call for tender and a consultation.

Tenders for certain Lead Laboratories, Peer Review Laboratories and/or Reference Material Suppliers shall be sent by postal mail to the secretary of CEN/TC 52/WG 5 "Safety of toys - Chemical properties", Mr Sebastian Lentz. For more information see the call for tender.