Market Surveillance Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and competent inspection authorities of Republic of Srpska, Federation of BiH and Brčko District of BiH conducted proactive market surveillance focused on the presence of phthalates in toys and childcare articles.
The aim of the market
surveillance was to determine whether the toys on the market of Bosnia and
Herzegovina meet the conditions prescribed by The Decision on the
restriction of placing toys and childcare articles containing phthalates on the
market (“Official Gazette of BiH” No. 04/10).
In accordance with the Decision:
1) dibutyl
phthalate (DBP), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and benzyl butyl phthalate
(BBP) shall not be used as substances or as constituents of preparations, at
concentrations of greater than 0,1 % by mass of the plasticised material, in
toys and childcare articles;
2) di-“isononyl”
phthalate (DINP), di-“isodecyl” phthalate (DIDP) and di-n-octyl phthalate
(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, in
toys and childcare articles which can be placed in the mouth by children.
During the inspection control, 20
samples of children's toys were taken from the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The chemical analysis of the samples determined that 4 samples contained the
prohibited phthalates in a concentration greater than 0.1% by mass of
plasticised material (20%), which does not comply with the Decision on the restriction of placing toys and childcare articles
containing phthalates on the market.
Based on the results of the laboratory analysis,
competent inspection authorities ordered the measures of withdrawal from the
market and destruction of 277 unsafe toys. Surveillance activities focused on
toys will be carried out continuously.