France, Belgium Revise formamide limit in EVA product

While the European Union’s Toy Safety Directive (TSD) requirements regarding chemical contents in toys will come into effect next year, France and Belgium have recently elected to revise their individual, temporary restrictions on total content of formamide in foam toy “puzzle mats,” to be enforced until the TSD law  (Directive 2009/48/EC) comes into effect next July 20.

• France has relaxed its rule, first published last July, restricting the total content of formamide in foam puzzle mats. As previously reported in Toy News Tuesday, France’s Official Journal of the French Republic (OJFR) previously restricted formamide in toys to 2mg/kg (ppm). The revised rule, published on August 5, restricts total content of formamide in toys to 200mg/kg (ppm) and no longer includes emission level restrictions.
• Belgium has elected to enforce the Toy Safety Directive limit now instead of waiting until next year. The TSD bans the sale of puzzle mats containing more than 5000mg/kg (ppm) (0.5 percent) of formamide.

Typically, formamide may be present in foam mats as a plasticizer for ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), as a decomposition product of blowing agents used in the manufacture of foam products, or as a residual solvent from EVA resin manufacture. According to the French Agency for Food Safety, Environment, and Labor (ANSES), in the case of puzzle mats, children can inhale the chemical emitted by the mats into the air.

And refering to EU website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/toys/faq/index_en.htm#Q2-9

The marketing of puzzle mats containing formamide was restricted in some member States. Can formamide be used in toys?

Formamide is a CMR classified as reprotoxic cat 2 (or 1 B according to 1272/2008).

According to the current Toy safety directive 88/378/EEC, toys shall not contain dangerous substances in amounts which may harm the safety and health of children.
It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to demonstrate that toys they place on the EU market comply with this requirement. National market surveillance authorities have the obligation to verify and take measures the case may be.

The new Toy Safety Directive 2009/48 introduces, as from July 2013, a general ban on CMRs substances. As an exception, they can be used when they are contained in concentrations equal or below the concentrations mentioned in Regulation 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (0.5% for formamide).