Hazardous Products (Toys) Regulations

Article 4 of the Hazardous Products (Toys) Regulations stipulates that any soft plastic film bag used for packaging toys and children's products with an opening perimeter of less than 35.3 cm (14 in.) should have a thickness greater than 0.019 mm, and the following warning or other words with the same meaning should be clearly indicated: "PLASTIC BAGS CAN BE DANGEROUS. TO AVOID DANGER OF SUFFOCATION KEEP THIS BAG AWAY FROM BABIES AND CHILDREN." That is: "Plastic bags may pose a hazard. To avoid the risk of suffocation caused by this, keep plastic bags away from babies and children." The text must be marked in both English and French.

Article 7 stipulates that for all toys intended for children aged 3 or under, no small parts should fall off during reasonably foreseeable use. However, parts completely composed of soft textile fiber materials are excluded.

Article 8 stipulates various mechanical and physical safety requirements, including:

The exposed metal parts of the toy should not have sharp points or edges;
The metal wires of the toy must be protected or coiled back to avoid exposing the tips;
The plastic toys or plastic parts of the toys should be thick enough to prevent cracking and exposing sharp edges. If it must be very thin due to its function, it should be made of rigid materials;
The surfaces, edges, and corners of wooden toys should be smoothed;
The edges and corners of the glass parts of the toys should be smoothed;
All fasteners (such as nails, screws, etc.) should be properly installed to avoid harming children;
The folding mechanism should prevent sudden collapse that may pinch children's hands and feet;
The toy winding key or winding mechanism should prevent the risk of entanglement of children's fingers;
The launching end of a projectile toy should have a protective head, and the protective head should be able to withstand a pulling force of 44.5 N;
Any toy (such as a toy box) that is large enough for a child to enter and can be closed with a lid or a door must have ventilation holes of sufficient size and quantity on adjacent surfaces to avoid the risk of suffocation;
Toys that bear the weight of children should have a firm vertical surface to avoid the risk of tipping over.

Articles 13 to 27 of the regulations stipulate the requirements for specific toys, among which the clauses related to mechanical and physical performance are:

(1) Doll Toys or Soft Toys
Article 13: The fasteners used to connect parts, clothes or decorations on doll toys or soft toys should not expose sharp points or edges during reasonably foreseeable use;
Article 14: The filling materials used in doll toys or soft toys should be clean, free of pests, free of hard and sharp foreign objects, and non-toxic and non-irritating;
Article 15: When the large size of parts such as the mouth and nose of doll toys or soft toys does not exceed 32 mm, they should not fall off during the tensile test;
Article 19: If the sounding parts in doll toys or soft toys are small parts, they should not fall off during reasonably foreseeable use.

(2) Push-and-Pull Toys
Article 21: For all push-and-pull toys with a handle diameter not exceeding 10 mm (0.375 in.), in addition to meeting the requirements of mechanics, choking, toxicity, electricity and heat generation, a protective head should be added to the end of the handle to prevent stabbing, and the protective head should be able to withstand a pulling force of 44.5 N (10 lb) without falling off.

(3) Toy Steam Engines
Article 22: The toy boiler should be equipped with a tightly fastened spring valve or other safety valve. The operating pressure of the safety valve should not exceed 1.5 times the ambient atmospheric pressure, but its designed pressure-bearing capacity should be at least 3 times the ambient atmospheric pressure.

(4) Rattles
Article 25: During reasonably foreseeable use, the rattle should not have sharp metal wires exposed; when tested with a force of 50 N (11.23 lb) or a torque of 1 N·m (8.85 lb·in.), no parts should be removed.

(5) Elastic Bands
Article 26: To prevent strangulation hazards, for all elastic bands connected to baby carriages, baby cots or fences, the extended length should not exceed 750 mm (30 in.) or 75% of their natural length.

With the new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) coming into effect in June 2011, the implementing regulations under the original HPA will gradually be transferred to the implementing regulations under CCPSA. In terms of the chemical safety of toys, the currently formulated regulations are the Toys Regulations (SOR/2011-17) and the Children's Jewellery Regulations (SOR/2011-19).

Canada Consumer Product Safety Act
Part I and Part II of Appendix I of the Hazardous Products Act (HPA) list prohibited products and restricted products respectively. However, in the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA), there is only a list of prohibited products (Appendix II), and there is no list of restricted products. There are 31 categories of prohibited products in HPA, while there are only 15 categories in CCPSA. This is because some prohibited products have been revised and integrated into the existing implementing regulations, or into the new regulations, or new regulations will be formulated.
Among the 15 categories of prohibited products specified in CCPSA, there is no involvement of toys. Because the relevant regulations have been/will be transferred to the implementing regulations.

Toys Regulations (SOR/2011-17)
Articles 22 to 27 of the new Toys Regulations (Toys Regulations) stipulate the chemical safety requirements for toys, and Articles 28 to 43 regarding the requirements for specific toys also involve chemical requirements. The new regulations will come into effect on June 20, 2011.
In the requirements for specific toys, the clauses related to chemical safety are consistent with the old toy regulations, that is, the filling materials used in dolls and soft toys should be non-toxic and non-irritating; finger paints must be water-based paints. Compared with the old regulations, it is no longer required that finger paints should not contain toxic substances, corrosive substances, flammable agents or allergens, because this has been stipulated in Article 26.

Children's Jewellery Regulations (SOR/2011-19)
In February 2011, Canada issued a new Children's Jewellery Regulations, stipulating that from June 20, 2011, for jewellery worn by children under 15 years old, the total lead content should not exceed 600 mg/kg, and the soluble lead content should not exceed 90 mg/kg.