Toy Makers Hit with Added Costs
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:25 pm
The U.S. government recently passed stricter safety laws for toys in response to the millions of toys that were recalled last year due to lead paint. The laws are aimed at big toy manufacturers, to ensure that toys made overseas are adhere to the safety policies. Unfortunately the new laws are having a substantial negative affect on small toy makers, who can't compete with the added costs.
Under the law, all children's products must be tested for lead and other harmful substances. Toy makers are required to pay a third-party lab for the testing and to put tracking labels on all toys to show when and where they were made.
Those requirements make sense for a multinational toy manufacturer churning out thousands of plastic toys on an overseas assembly line, said Marshall. But a business that makes, for example, a few hundred handcrafted wooden baby rattles each year cannot afford to pay up to $4,000 per product for testing, a price some toy makers have been quoted, he said.
A revisement to the law is under consideration so that unfinished materials will be exempt from testing such as wood and fibers - cotton, silk, wool, hemp, flax, and linen. However, not everyone is satisfied that the proposal goes far enough to alleviate the burden on small toy makers. Because the exemptions only apply to unfinished materials, very few toy makers will have products that are entirely spared from testing, said Julia Chen, owner of The Playstore in Palo Alto, which specializes in wooden and organic playthings.
Already, some small toy manufacturers have announced that they will stop importing their toys to the U.S. or reduce their volume because they cannot afford the testing fees.
It is uncertain at this time what kind of affect these new laws will have on the small 3rd party Transformers makers, such as: Fansproject, Impossibletoys, or Justitoys. Because the toys are made from plastic, metal, and paint, they would not be exempt from the testing fees.
The product safety commission has until Jan. 5 to decide on the recommended exemptions.
To read the full article click here.
Under the law, all children's products must be tested for lead and other harmful substances. Toy makers are required to pay a third-party lab for the testing and to put tracking labels on all toys to show when and where they were made.
Those requirements make sense for a multinational toy manufacturer churning out thousands of plastic toys on an overseas assembly line, said Marshall. But a business that makes, for example, a few hundred handcrafted wooden baby rattles each year cannot afford to pay up to $4,000 per product for testing, a price some toy makers have been quoted, he said.
A revisement to the law is under consideration so that unfinished materials will be exempt from testing such as wood and fibers - cotton, silk, wool, hemp, flax, and linen. However, not everyone is satisfied that the proposal goes far enough to alleviate the burden on small toy makers. Because the exemptions only apply to unfinished materials, very few toy makers will have products that are entirely spared from testing, said Julia Chen, owner of The Playstore in Palo Alto, which specializes in wooden and organic playthings.
Already, some small toy manufacturers have announced that they will stop importing their toys to the U.S. or reduce their volume because they cannot afford the testing fees.
It is uncertain at this time what kind of affect these new laws will have on the small 3rd party Transformers makers, such as: Fansproject, Impossibletoys, or Justitoys. Because the toys are made from plastic, metal, and paint, they would not be exempt from the testing fees.
The product safety commission has until Jan. 5 to decide on the recommended exemptions.
To read the full article click here.