The Testing and Metrology Directorate in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MoICT), has recently announced that it is intensifying control on toys through the implementation of the new conformity assessment procedures, which came into effect on June 1, 2021.
The new procedures aim to tighten control over these products to ensure their safety for use by children before they enter the local markets in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
On this occasion, Shaikh Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic and Foreign Trade, stated that the control of children's toys products is a priority for the Ministry because children constitute a large segment of the society.
Explaining further, he said that this segment is not aware of its actions sometimes, so the responsibility is greater on the legislature and supervisory authorities to protect children from low-grade products that may pose danger to them.
"From this standpoint, the Ministry has imposed new measures on economic operators of children's toy products to ensure safety and security in these products before they enter the local markets of the Kingdom," Shaikh Hamad reaffirmed.
The Assistant Undersecretary also indicated that the new procedures on these products will not constitute a burden on merchants or importers, mentioning that some GCC have implemented these procedures for a while, and global factories have been aware of these procedures since 2011, and therefore the matter will not be new for them.
Shaikh Hamad elaborated: "Accordingly, the merchant or importer, before importing children's toys products, must verify the requirements for installing the GCC tracking code on the product, which represents the GCC conformity badge with the QR code, and the GCC model inspection certificate issued by an acceptable body accredited to the GCC Standardisation Organisation, along with the manufacturer's declaration of conformity."
It is worth noting that the provision of these requirements means that the product has undergone the necessary tests by one of the testing bodies accepted and approved by the Organisation, in accordance with international specifications and GCC technical regulations that guarantee the safety and security of this product, and therefore the competent department of the Ministry will permit the products that meet these requirements to enter the local markets.
Shaikh Hamad added that the Directorate is fully prepared to receive inquiries from factories, importers as well as buyers via Tel: 17574909, Fax: 17570730, e-mail: bsmd@www.moic.gov.bh.
