What is EN 71 — Safety of Toys (European Standard), and does it apply to your product?

If you're selling toys into the European Union, EN 71 is the standard your product almost certainly needs to meet. It's a multi-part European safety standard covering toys, and it's the technical backbone behind the CE mark you see on toy packaging.

**Who needs to worry about this?**

Anyone importing or reselling toys — physical toys, and often borderline products like children's jewelry, costumes, or novelty items — into EU countries. If your product could reasonably be considered a toy for children, assume EN 71 applies until proven otherwise.

**What you actually need on file**

- EN 71 Part 1-3 test reports from an accredited testing lab

- An EU Declaration of Conformity

- CE marking on the product or packaging

- An age appropriateness label

- A choking hazard warning, if the toy has small parts

If you're missing any of these, you don't have a compliant product for the EU market — regardless of how good the toy actually is.

**The chemistry part people forget**

EN 71 Part 3 sets migration limits for specific elements, measured in mg/kg. These aren't arbitrary — they're the numbers a lab test will check against:

- Antimony: 60 mg/kg

- Arsenic: 25 mg/kg

- Barium: 1000 mg/kg

- Cadmium: 75 mg/kg

- Chromium: 37.5 mg/kg

- Lead: 160 mg/kg

- Mercury: 60 mg/kg

- Selenium: 500 mg/kg

These limits matter most for painted surfaces, plastics, and any component a child might chew, suck, or handle repeatedly. If you're sourcing from a supplier who can't show you a recent test report with these figures, that's a red flag before