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The Government will publish the Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (Commencement) Notice (the Commencement Notice), the Toys and Children's Products Safety Regulation (Repeal) Regulation (the Repeal Regulation) and the Toys and Children's Products Safety (Additional Safety Standards or Requirements) Regulation (the Additional Safety Requirements Regulation) in the Gazette on Friday (February 14).
The Commencement Notice appoints July 1, 2014, as the day on which the Toys and Children's Products Safety (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (the Amendment Ordinance) comes into operation. The Amendment Ordinance, passed by the Legislative Council in December 2013, has amended the Toys and Children's Products Safety Ordinance (the Ordinance) (Cap. 424) by expanding the definition of "children's product" to cover, in addition to the children's products specified in Schedule 2, other products that are intended to facilitate the feeding, hygiene, relaxation, sleep, sucking or teething of a child under 4 years of age and that contain any plasticised material. It has also made other amendments to the Ordinance to enable regulations to be made to control the concentration of six types of phthalates (namely BBP, DBP, DEHP, DIDP, DINP and DNOP) in certain toys and children's products.
The Additional Safety Requirements Regulation has set out the control on the concentration of the above six types of phthalates in certain toys and children's products that are intended to facilitate the feeding, hygiene, relaxation, sleep, sucking or teething of a child under 4 years of age and that contain any plasticised material. Specifically, the total weight of BBP, DBP and DEHP in a toy or children's product must not exceed 0.1 per cent of the total weight of the plasticised materials in the toy or children's product. The total weight of DIDP, DINP and DNOP in a toy or children's product or parts thereof that can be placed in the mouth of a child under 4 years of age must not exceed 0.1 per cent of the total weight of the plasticised materials in the toy, children's product or parts. The Additional Safety Requirements Regulation has also incorporated the requirements under the existing Toys and Children's Products Safety Regulation (Cap. 424B) which will therefore be repealed by the Repeal Regulation.
The Additional Safety Requirements Regulation will come into operation on the same day of commencement of the Amendment Ordinance on July 1, 2014.
Ends/Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:00
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