Toy Association’s International Advocacy Secures Regulatory Relief in Key Foreign Markets

November 6, 2018 | The Toy Association recently submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on several international trade barrier issues that impact U.S. toy companies that do business in foreign markets. The comments are used to compile the annual National Trade Estimate Report, which serves as a basis for USTR’s trade negotiations on regulatory and other barriers.

“Each year, The Toy Association submits comments to USTR disclosing the international regulations and other barriers that we find problematic for U.S. toy companies,” said Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs at The Toy Association. “As a result of our efforts, our concerns continue to be featured in USTR’s annual National Trade Estimate Report and the U.S. government continues to advocate on our behalf. In fact, recently there’s been some successes in Brazil and Indonesia.”

Here are a few of the international issues The Association has had success on:

• Brazil Delays Ordinance 563 on Toy Safety and Certification: Brazil’s governing body, INMETRO, has recently proposed further revisions and delaying implementation of Ordinance 563 for one year (to December 29, 2019). Once in effect, Ordinance 563 and the new Complimentary Ordinance 310  will require all toys sold in Brazil to be registered and certified based on testing to the MERCOSUR toy safety standard NM 300. The Toy Association has had concerns that Ordinance 563 could overly burden toy companies that sell product in Brazil and has been actively engaged with INMETRO to adapt language that would more closely align the regulations with international norms.

• Indonesia Signs Order on National Standard and Technical Specification for Toys: The Indonesian government has signed a ministerial order revising the current Indonesian SNI regulations that require mandated toy testing and regulations for toys sold in the country. The revisions give importers the option to use a new conformity assessment process (ISO ‘Scheme 5’) to demonstrate compliance with the safety requirements. Scheme 5 allows for a four-year certification based on factory of origin audits. The Toy Association (along with the South East Asia Toy Association and other international toy associations) has long worked to alleviate the current burdensome conformity assessment requirements (testing of every imported shipment) and this is a welcome development. However, the implementing guidelines have yet to be developed and published.

The Toy Association’s international advocacy to reduce regulatory burdens continues in other countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, and India. As an example, the Association is working to urge Indian regulators to reconsider a September 2017 rule that mandates all imported toys be tested by an independent laboratory accredited by NABL (the Indian National accreditation body) to demonstrate compliance with the Indian Toy Safety Standard IS 9873 and the electronic toy standard IS 15644, rather than ISO 8124 and IEC 62115, as was the previous case. As reflected in recent National Trade Estimate Report comments, the regulations are placing additional burdens on U.S. toy companies selling in India as customs agents are asking for certification to the new requirements before allowing toys to enter the Indian market.

Questions on any of these topics may be directed to Rebecca Mond.