The Republic of Moldova has transposed European legislation on toy safety into its national law. The new Technical Regulation became effective in November 2017.
In February 2018, the World Trade Organization (WTO) circulated a notification relating to Moldova’s Decision Number 808 of October 29, 2015 ‘On Approval of the Technical Regulation on Toy Safety Requirements’. Decision Number 808 of October 29, 2015 [1] , attached to WTO document number 18-1185 [2] and notified under G/TBT/N/MDA/38, has repealed Decision Number 83 of January 31, 2008 ‘On Approval of the Technical Regulation on Toy Safety Requirements’ [3].
The provisions in the new Technical Regulation are similar to the requirements in Directive 2009/48/EC, the so-called European Toy Safety Directive (TSD). These include, inter alia, the following:
- Obligations for economic operators (manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers and distributors), including considerations where obligations for manufacturers are applied to importers and distributors
- Requiring the SM conformity mark or CE conformity mark for compliant toys to be placed on the market. It is prohibited to affix the SM mark (Law Number 235 of December 01, 2011 [4]) and the CE mark to the same toy
- Applying conformity assessment procedures using harmonized standards that are cited in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and adopted as Moldovan standards for demonstrating presumption of conformity to cover all safety requirements, or a type examination procedure
- Providing a list of products that are not considered as toys (Annex 1)
- Specific requirements for properties relating to physical and mechanical, flammability, chemical, electrical, hygiene and radioactivity (Annex 2)
- Before placing a toy on the market, manufacturers are obliged to carry out a safety assessment on the analysis of the chemical, physical, mechanical, electrical, flammability, hygiene and radioactivity hazards that the toy may present and an assessment of the potential exposure to such hazards
- Requiring a declaration of compliance for compliant toys (DoC, Annex 3)
- Requiring manufacturers to draw up technical documentation containing the information in Annex 4
- Requiring warnings to be marked in a manner that is clearly visible, easily legible, understandable and accurate on the toy or on an affixed label or on the packaging. Warnings are to be affixed to small toys which are sold without packaging (Annex 5)
- Requiring authorities to carry out market surveillance activities (Annex 6, amended by Decision Number 1089 of December 18, 2017 [5])
Moldova has adopted TCEP, TCPP, TDCP and bisphenol A (BPA) from Annex 2 of Appendix C to the TSD into its new Technical Regulation. This new piece of legislation may be amended in the future to reflect the other restricted chemicals falling under Annex 2 of Appendix C to the TSD (BIT, CMI, CI, CMI:CI (3:1), formamide [6] and phenol [7]), the strengthened limits for lead migration [8] (Directive (EU) 2017/738), and the permitted use of nickel in toy components which are intended to conduct an electric current [9] (Directive 2014/84/EU).
Apart from a few provisions, Decision Number 808 of October 29, 2015 has been effective since November 2017.
Definitions
| Item | Acronym/Abbreviation | Chemical |
| 1 | BIT | 1,2-Benzisothiazol- 3(2H)-one |
| 2 | BPA | Bisphenol A |
| 3 | CMI | 5-Chloro-2-methylisothiazolin-3(2H)-one |
| 4 | CMI:MI (3:1) | 3:1 mixture of CMI and MI |
| 5 | MI | 2-Methylisothiazolin-3(2H)-one |
| 6 | TCEP | Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate |
| 7 | TCPP | Tris(2-chloro-1-methylethyl) phosphate |
| 8 | TDCP | Tris[2-chloro-1-(chloromethyl)ethyl] phosphate |
Next step:
Stakeholders are advised to comply with latest requirements for toys for the Republic of Moldova.
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