Activites

• 2005/12/27 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 2005/84
  • OJ L 344 27.12.2005, p. 0040-0043
• 2005/12/14 Final act signed
• 2005/12/14 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2692
• 2005/11/22 Council Meeting
• 2005/07/05 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0266/2005 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Antonios TRAKATELLIS (EPP-ED, EL) and voted in favour of a permanent ban on six phthalates in toys and childcare articles. The plenary approved the compromise reached by the rapporteur with the Council just after the vote that took place on 14/06/2005 in the Environment Committee.DINP, DIDP and DNOP shall not be used as substances or as constituents of preparations, at concentrations of greater than 0.1% by mass of the plasticised material, intoys and childcare articles which can be placed in the mouth by children.The ban applies irrespective of the age for which the toys and articles are made. In addition a new definition of childcare articles includes any product intended to facilitate hygiene.A new recital states that the Commission will review other applications of articles made from plasticised material or including parts made fromplasticised material which may expose people to risks, especially those used in medical devices.Finally, there are two Statements annexed to the resolution. One concerns the fact that the Commission, in consultation with Member States’ experts responsible for the management of Directive 76/769/EEC and stakeholders, will prepare a guidance document in order to facilitate the implementation of the Directive. The document will address in particular the provisions on restrictions of certain substances in toys and childcare articles intended for children insofar as they concern the condition "which can be placed in the mouth" as specified in the annex to the Directive. The aspects related to “accessible” plasticised material and “handheld” toys will be examined. The second statement confirms the Commission’s intention to address the issue of fragrances in toys in the framework of the revision of Council Directive 88/378/EEC on the safety of toys. This will identify exactly what should be understood as fragrances, consider the appropriate measures to deal with the risks identified and ensure consistency with the other legislative provisions of the said Directive.

• 2005/07/04 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2005/06/20 Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading
  • A6-0196/2005
• 2005/06/14 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
• 2005/04/14 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• 2005/04/04 Council position published
  • 05467/1/2005 summary

    The Council’s common position represents a fresh start after several years of stalemate and therefore does not address each of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament during the first reading. The Council wishes to move forward in the same direction as the European Parliament, by significantly broadening the scope of the ban, replacing labelling with an outright ban. The Council believes that this will greatly assist towards adopting a permanent ban, subject to a continuous review, leading to an even broader ban, should new scientific evidence arise after its entry into force.More specifically, as far as the group of phthalates is concerned which have been classified as CMR (carcinogen, mutagen, reprotoxic) substances, the proposal goes further than the amendments of the European Parliament by banning their use in toys regardless of the age-group. For the other group of phthalates, the common position follows the proposed amendments. A review clause, as suggested by the European Parliament, has been included in the proposal.The amendments relating to the labelling of toys and childcare articles and the banning of fragrances have not been taken into account, because bearing in mind the risk assessment results and the wider scope of the proposed limitations as compared to the ones initially proposed these measures were not considered proportional.Moreover, the Council has introduced new modifications as follows:- the introduction of the obligation for the Commission to review these measures within four years from their entry into force;- compliance with the guidelines on drafting legislative texts, and to add the obligation for Member States to notify the transposition measures to the Commission;- in the Annex, the scope of the ban has been clarified, by extending it, for DEHP, DBP and BBP to all toys and childcare articles; for DINP, DIDP and DNOP, the ban will cover toys and childcare articles intended for children under three years of age and which can be placed in the mouth by them. In both cases, it has been clarified that the concentration limit of 0,1 % of the mass applies to the plasticised material mass, so that in case of items which include both plasticised material and other components, itremains applicable in full to the plasticised part only.

• #2605
• 2004/09/24 Council Meeting
• #X019
• 2003/11/10 Council Meeting
• #X018
• 2003/05/19 Council Meeting
• #2389
• 2001/11/26 Council Meeting
  • 2389
• #2289
• 2000/09/28 Council Meeting
  • 2289
• 2000/07/06 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0334/2000 summary

    The European Parliament, in its first reading, adopted a resolution (Per-Arne ARVIDSSON, EPP/ED, Sweden) on phthalates and toy safety. The main amendments to the Commission's proposal were as follows: - in the case of toys that contain phthalates and are intended for children between the ages of three and six, but which younger children could place in their mouths, warnings must be placed on the packaging and on the toy itself. -the prohibition applies to all phthalates and not the six in the Commission's proposal. -the ban is extended to all toys, not just toys intended for children under three, and not only toys that are designed to be placed in the mouth. Toys which can be placed in the mouth by children may have concentrations no greater than 0.5%, rather than 1% envisaged by the original proposal. -fragrances may not be added to toys containing phthalates which a child can place in its mouth.�

• 2000/07/05 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• #2265
• 2000/05/25 Council Meeting
  • 2265 summary

    On the basis of a progress report presented by the Presidency, the Council held an exchange of views on a proposal for a directive amending for the 22nd time Directive 76/769/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations (phthalates) and amending Directive 88/378/EEC on the approximation of laws of the Member States concerning the safety of toys. In view of continued divergencies between delegations, the Council invited the Permanent Representatives Committee to pursue work on this dossier with a view to enabling the Council to reach an agreement, in light of the forthcoming Opinion of the European Parliament, on this proposal.�

• 2000/05/24 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0149/2000
• 2000/01/17 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1999/11/10 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1999)0577 summary

    PURPOSE: To harmonise provisions relating to phthalates in toys and child care articles in order to ensure a high level of health protection, notably of young children.PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.CONTENT: The purpose of the proposed Directive is to harmonise provisions on phthalates is toys and child care articles in order to ensure a high level of health protection for young children under the age of three. The proposed Directive is being presented on the back of research conducted in Denmark and Spain, which indicates that unsafe levels of phthalates are migrating from certain soft PVC child care articles. The Commission’s preferred route of action is to initiate an outright ban on the use of certain phthalates in PVC toys and child care articles put in the mouth by small children under the age of three. An additional provision would ensure that soft PVC toys intended for children under the age of three, which could be put in the mouth, should carry a label alerting carers that children should not put those toys in their mouths. To enact the ban the Commission is proposing to amend, for the twenty second time, Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restriction on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations (phthalates). At the same time it is proposing an amendment to Council Directive 88/378/EEC concerning the safety of toys. The phthalates concerned are DINP and DEHP. It should be noted that a ban was chosen over an above testing methods given that tests for detecting the migration of phthalates are incomplete and are therefore not sufficiently good enough for regulatory purposes.As the adoption and implementation of the proposed ban on phthalates will take a certain period of time, the Commission is proposing to simultaneously agree to Council Decision, Article 9 of the Directive on Product Safety, which requires the Member States to take temporary measures to implement the prohibition within less than 10 days.Given that most of the Member States have already notified their intention to introduce (in the framework of Commission Recommendation 98/485/EC) national bans on the use of phthalates in toys, the costs are considered minimal. In addition, industry has adapted to the situation and in a majority of Member States, most of the products in question no longer contain phthalates.

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/', 'title': 'Enterprise and Industry'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1999)0577
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0149/2000
• Debate in Council: 2265
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0334/2000
• Debate in Council: 2289
• Debate in Council: 2389
• Council position published: 05467/1/2005
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A6-0196/2005
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T6-0266/2005
• : Directive 2005/84
• : OJ L 344 27.12.2005, p. 0040-0043

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)