"Toys, as the name implies, are instruments for games (playing) and have quite a history. The Han Dynasty Wang Fu in the "Qianfu theory. Floating luxury chapter" said toys are playing children's equipment (teasing children to play things), "or do mud car, tile dog. Horse riding advocate row, all the joy of the children of the ordinary, in order to trick trick".
Modern Chinese dictionary, the definition of toys is: "dedicated to children to play with things".
With the increasing proportion of toys in today's international trade, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) issued the ISO 8124-1 standard "Toy Safety - Part 1: Safety of Mechanical and Physical Properties", which defines toys as "all products and materials designed or intended for play by children under 14 years of age". Countries have also adopted this definition, such as China's GB6675, the U.S. ASTM F963, the European Union's EN71 series, Japan's ST 2012 and other standards.
Some countries or regions have also extended the definition of refinement, such as the new EU 2009/48/EC toy safety directive on the definition of toys to add "whether or not the product is dedicated" to expand the scope of toys; the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act CPSIA definition of children's toys "for children under 12 years of age, designed for children under 12 years of age, in a child-friendly environment". The CPSIA defines children's toys as "consumer products designed for children under 12 years of age and intended for use by children during play", which expands the applicable age range.
Classification of Toys
Toys come in many varieties and are classified in different ways. At present, the classification of toys in the industry is mainly based on the production materials, product function, product structure, production process, applicable to the object to be divided.
1. According to the production of material classification. That is, the main production material of toy products as a feature to classify the toy products can generally be divided into cloth toys, bamboo toys, plastic toys, paper toys, metal toys and so on.
2. Classification by product function. From the material structure and spiritual and cultural level of the use of the two functions, choose its functional characteristics of the obvious classification, generally divided into electric toys, sound toys, remote control toys, ride-on toys, catapult toys, model toys, dolls, toys, handmade toys and so on.
3. Classification by product structure. That is, the main structure of the toy product as a feature to classify, according to the product structure classification is more detailed, such as catapult toys can be divided into energy storage structure and non-energy storage structure; motorised toys in the inertia structure is divided into friction to start inertia, snap inertia and rack pull inertia and so on different structures.
4. According to the production process classification. Toy products are a variety of production processes, when a certain type of toy production process characteristics are obvious when it will be used as a basis for classification, such as plastic-lined toys, blow-moulded toys, toys, iron toys, stuffed toys and so on.
5. According to the use of object classification. The age range of toy product users is very large, according to the growth stage can be divided into children, adolescents, adults, the elderly, etc., the child stage can be divided into infants, toddlers, pre-school children and school-age children.
Current situation of the toy industry
China is the world's largest toy manufacturer and exporter. According to statistics, in 2018, the country's toy industry achieved a total of 25.084 billion U.S. dollars in exports, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 per cent. China's toy industry is affected by historical factors, mainly in the form of processing trade, supplemented by general trade, but after two years of low tide in 2008 and 2009, the export of China's toy industry has been slowly recovering since 2010, in which the proportion of processing trade continues to decline, while the proportion of general export trade is rising.
In recent years, China's toy industry survival environment is gradually poor. Europe and the United States and other major target markets for toys, economic weakness, sluggish demand; to regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures as the representative of the technical barriers to trade as a new means of trade protection means of application gradually proliferated, countries are competing to raise the threshold of access to toys, Europe and the United States market recall notification encountered by the rapid increase in the trend; appreciation of the renminbi and the rising price of raw materials to reduce the profitability of the product, the lack of technical support, cultural support, branding Low-price processing trade determines the low value-added products; China's toy quality and safety standards lag behind. The superimposed impact of the above factors has hindered the healthy development of the toy industry.
In 2018 and 2019, the country's exported toys suffered 375 batches of foreign returns one after another, with a value of $12.496 million. Notified by the EU RAPEX 1067 batches.
In 2018 alone, 520 batches of Chinese-made toys were recalled by the EU, with the main reasons for the recall being small parts, o-benzene, and electric toy structures.
Technical barriers in major trading countries
ASTM F963, HR4040, California Proposition 65, toy manufacturers obtaining third-party certification from CPSC accredited laboratories to prove that their products comply with the ASTM F963-11 Toy Safety Standard, ASTM F963-11 becoming a mandatory toy standard
ST 2016 and Japan's Food Sanitation Law, Japan's toy standard ST 2016
EN71-3, the new EU Directive (2009/48/EC), the EU Rules for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH), the EU Electricity and Storage Batteries Directive (2002/525/EC), the EU Phthalates Plasticisers Directive (2005/84/EC), the EU Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment - ROHS Directive ( /27/EC), Pentachlorophenol Directive (91/173/EEC, 1999/51/EC), Cadmium Content Directive (91/338/EEC), REACH PAH Regulation 1272/2013/EU, EN 71-1: 2014 "Safety of Toys Part I: Mechanical and Physical Properties", EN 71-2:2012 "Safety of Toys Part II: Flammability, Directive 2012/7/EU, EN 71-12:2013 Safety of Toys Part XII: N-Nitrosamines and N-Nitroso Substances, EN 71-4:2013 Safety of Toys Part IV: Experimental Devices Designed for Chemical Reactions and Related Activities
The impact of foreign technical barriers to export toys
Firstly, it greatly increases the cost of toy enterprises and reduces product competitiveness. China's toy export enterprises in order to make products in line with the latest technical requirements, must increase investment, including switching to new types of raw materials, updated testing equipment, transformation of production lines and product design research, etc., these measures will inevitably increase the production costs of export toys. Also increased product testing costs, certification costs and the cost of technological innovation and transformation.
Secondly, improve market access threshold, reduce trade opportunities. Foreign technical trade measures to restrict a wide range of names, restrictions on the content of the variable, and China's enterprises due to the importing country's relevant standards, certification requirements are not collected in a timely manner or not comprehensive, resulting in enterprises to miss the transaction timing or forced to cancel the order.
Third, exacerbate the trade risk of toy exports, hindering China's toy exports. 2007, the world's first major toy manufacturers U.S. X company began to recall Chinese toy products, resulting in a toy company in Guangzhou was recalled 967,000 pieces of toy products, the need to compensate for the loss of more than 30 million U.S. dollars, resulting in heavy losses to Chinese enterprises, but also triggered a "Made in China" toy crisis of confidence. This has caused Chinese enterprises to suffer heavy losses and triggered a crisis of confidence in "Made in China" toys. At the same time, due to information asymmetry, foreign standards are updated too quickly, sometimes China's exports of toy products shipped to the importing country before being detected do not meet the technical standards or standards have been updated by the importing country detained, ordered to return or even mandatory destruction, resulting in trade friction.
Fourth, objectively promote industrial upgrading of the toy industry. Developed countries have high quality requirements, production technology, advanced technology, strong innovation, which also forced the Chinese toy industry to industrial upgrading."
