New Regulations on Toys will be Introduced for Child Safety in Japan

2023-06-08

On 16 May 2023, a press release from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (経済産業省) told the public that there will be new regulations on two types of products as described below.

Substantial Changes:

In view of the potential danger of those products, a cabinet decision has been made to partially revise the Order for Enforcement of the Consumer Product Safety Law. This ordinance newly designates (1) recreational goods made of magnets and (2) toys made of water absorbent synthetic resin as specified products under the Consumer Product Safety Law and regulates the sale of the products that do not comply with the relevant technical standards. These two products are considered as dangerous as reported in the following survey:

Toys	Harm to Children	Number of Accidents	Consequences
Recreational items made of magnets (magnet sets)	Children accidentally ingested multiple magnets, and the strong magnets attracted between the intestinal walls led to laparotomy	11	Required surgical removal
Water expanding toys	Swelled greatly in the intestine	4	Required removal by laparotomy

The requirements will be:

#	Product	Definitions	Note	Technical Requirements
1	Magnet Sets	Which combine multiple magnets with strong magnetic force	The law will cover even Magnet sets not intended for children. It is planned to specify that the size should be smaller than the size that fits in a test cylinder.	Similar to ISO8124-1 Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties. Limit: 50kg2 / mm2".
2	Water-absorbent toys	Which swell up when they absorb water	Water-swelling ball will be banned because it will expand beyond the swelling rate set forth in the future technical standards so it will not meet the technical standards.	Similar to ISO8124-1. Limit: not exceeding 50% of the state before water absorption.