Chlorine-free plastic in products CE-marked as toys

Labelling

If the requirement has been verified with a label, check that there is a valid license for the product in question. This can be checked: Nordic Swan Ecolabel

Product information / product sheet

If the requirement is verified with product information / product sheets, check that chlorinated plastics, such as PVC, are not included in the product.

Analysis report

If the requirement has been verified with analysis reports, perform spot-checks on the analysis reports and check that no chlorinated plastics are included. Also check that the analyses were performed by an accredited laboratory.

Self-declaration verified by an accredited verification body

If a verified self-declaration is used to prove that the requirement is fulfilled, request the supplier’s self-declaration, including documentation showing that the requirement is met. The self-declaration shall be verified by a verification body accredited for the task in accordance with ISO / IEC 17029 or equivalent standard.

This requirement is formulated as an award criterion. Suppliers whose tender meet the criterion are rewarded by added value in the tender evaluation, but do not exclude suppliers who do not from proceeding in the tender evaluation.

For the tender to meet the criterion, the entire requested assortment of CE-marked toys shall be free of chlorinated plastic. The scope of the assortment and how the toys are specified in the procurement affect the possibility of offering a halogen-free assortment.

For some products, such as plastic balls and dolls, it may be difficult for the supplier to offer products that do not contain halogenated plastics. For other products, such as plastic animals, there is a greater range of alternative materials to chlorinated plastic.

One example of chlorinated plastic used in plastic toys is polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

If you want to completely exclude chlorinated plastics in toys, you can choose to set the requirement as a technical specification instead of an award criterion. The requirement is then formulated: "Products CE-marked as toys shall not contain chlorinated plastic." To set the requirement as technical specification, the contracting organization must first review its article specification and ensure that there are no products for which alternatives to chlorinated plastic, such as PVC, are lacking on the market. Examples of such products are balls and dolls. A market analysis can contribute to knowledge about which products may have difficulty meeting the requirement. For products where there is no alternative to chlorinated plastic, the contracting organization can either request products from other materials, such as textile dolls instead of plastic dolls, or make exceptions for these products from the requirement.

There are currently a limited number of accredited verification bodies for ISO/IEC 17029 (Conformity assessment - General principles and requirements for validation and verification bodies) as it is a relatively new standard. This may change, especially if the demand for verifying compliance in this way increases. More information about the standard and accredited verification bodies can be found on Swedac's website.

The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.