Limited review of the toys containing lead and other elements mandatory safety standard

Closes 12 Dec 2025

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Background information

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About the toys containing lead and other elements mandatory standard

The mandatory standard came into effect in 2009 to protect children from harmful levels of lead and other toxic elements in children’s toys supplied in Australia. The mandatory standard covers requirements for maximum migration limits for certain elements and provides guidelines on how to test for certain elements in children's toys and finger paints.

The mandatory standard currently references voluntary Australian Standard AS 8124.7-2003 Safety of toys Part 7 – Finger paints, and voluntary Australian New Zealand Standard AS/NZS ISO 8124.3:2003 Safety of toys Part 3 – Migration of certain elements. These voluntary standards were last updated in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

Find out more about the mandatory standard on the ACCC Product Safety website.

Consultation issues

Accepting other voluntary standards as compliance options

We have identified voluntary Australian, international and overseas standards that may provide an equivalent level of safety to the mandatory standard. We consider that these could be listed as compliance options in the mandatory standard.

Where a mandatory standard allows for more than one voluntary standard as a compliance option, suppliers can be required by the mandatory standard to include information on which compliance option the product complies with. This compliance information could be marked on the product itself, the packaging, or in information provided with the product.

We have conducted an initial assessment of several overseas voluntary standards against the updated 2021 version of the voluntary Australian standard and consider that certain sections of these standards may  provide an equivalent level of safety.  These standards include:

  • The latest European voluntary standard: EN 71-3:2019 + A2:2024 - Safety of toys - Part 3: Migration of certain elements

This standard includes requirements for 19 elements (compared to 9 in the 2021 voluntary Australian standard) with different migration limits, testing methodology and material classification system. Referencing this voluntary standard in full is likely to increase the scope of the mandatory standard, which is beyond the parameters of this limited review.

A possible approach could be to reference as a compliance option only the specific sections of the European voluntary standard that align with the 2021 version of the voluntary Australian standard. This means only referencing the relevant provisions in the European voluntary standard which covers the migration and testing requirements for the 9 elements identified in the 2021 voluntary Australian standard: antimony, arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and selenium, rather than the broader scope of 19 elements included in the European standard.

  • The latest American voluntary standard: ASTM F963-23 - Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety

This standard only includes requirements for toys and modelling clays (included as part of a toy), it does not include specific limits for finger paints, slime and boron. Our initial view is that the absence of boron requirements means this standard does not adequately address risks from products such as modelling clays, putties and slime which are known sources of exposure. As a result of these differences, we consider referencing this standard in full may not offer an equivalent level of safety to the 2021 version of the voluntary Australian standard.

It is proposed that the ASTM standard only be available as a compliance option for the supply of products classified as toys. For other product categories including finger paints, slimes, modelling clays and putties, suppliers would be required to comply with the relevant Australian, ISO or European voluntary standards, which provide more suitable protections to address safety risks with these type of products.

Specifying the age limit for the mandatory standard

The current mandatory standard applies to toys and finger paints clearly intended for use in play by children who are up to 6 years old.

The latest 2021 voluntary Australian standard maintains focus on children up to 6 years due to the increased mouthing behaviours present in younger children. However, the standard also recognises that certain toy categories (e.g. modelling clay, liquid paints, gels, pretend/toy food, accessible coatings etc) which may be placed in the mouth or close to the mouth and/or are capable of easy ingestion should conform with the toxic element requirements, irrespective of any age grading or recommended age labelling.

We propose recommending to the Minister that the updated mandatory standard continues to apply specifically to children under 6 years for all toy categories. This is appropriate given that the greatest risk of harm from toxic elements arises in younger children, due to mouthing behaviours and higher susceptibility to exposure. Any expansion of the scope to cover older children falls outside the parameters of this limited review, however may be considered as part of a future full review.

Allowing mandatory standard references to be dynamic

Mandatory standards can reference one or more voluntary standards. Voluntary standards are updated from time to time. Ordinarily, a mandatory standard would reference only the version of the voluntary standard that was in place when the reference was introduced into the mandatory standard.

Dynamic referencing means that the mandatory standard references a voluntary standard as it exists from time-to-time. This will allow updates to the referenced voluntary standard to then flow through to the mandatory standard, keeping pace with global product safety developments.

We propose allowing a 6-month review period before any updates to a referenced voluntary standard take effect in the mandatory standard. During this time, we will review these updates to ensure they are appropriate. 

We can recommend to the Minister to stop an update to a voluntary standard taking effect in the mandatory standard, where necessary.

Transition periods

Appropriate transition periods in the mandatory standard allow for:

  1. changes arising from this review to take effect
  2. superseded versions of the referenced standards remaining as compliance options for a specified time.

Transition periods allow businesses to:

  • sell existing stock
  • make manufacturing and design changes
  • undertake testing to ensure compliance with an updated standard.

Retain the current mandatory safety standard (maintain the status quo)

If the status quo is maintained, there would be no change to the mandatory standard, and it would continue to reference parts of the 2003 voluntary Australian standards. This voluntary standards have been superseded.

Maintaining the status quo would mean that the mandatory safety standard would not reference the latest voluntary Australian and international standards. Businesses will continue to incur additional regulatory and testing costs, and they will not be able to supply products that comply with updated Australian and comparable voluntary international standards.

Consumers will have the same level of protection they have now but potentially not benefit from a greater variety of products and safety improvements.