Regulation (EU) 2025/2509
For toy brands selling in the EU working out what the new Toy Safety Regulation expects on warnings and labels. This page covers what you need to know and ways to avoid running into issues.
What we've seen reported
The Toy Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2025/2509, sets the EU safety rules for toys, including the warnings they carry, a digital product passport and what online marketplaces show. It replaces the Toy Safety Directive from August 1, 2030.1
Last updated October 2026 · General information only, not legal advice. Sources.
What the rules cover
These are the requirements the EU Toy Safety Regulation describes for warnings, passports and listings, according to its text, and who each one is placed on.1
| Requirement | Where it applies |
|---|---|
| Warnings and user limitations | Manufacturers: at least the minimum age of the user and, where relevant, abilities, weight or adult supervision. |
| Where warnings go | Manufacturers: clearly visible and legible on the toy, an affixed label or the packaging, and in instructions where appropriate. |
| Warnings before purchase | Clearly visible to the consumer before purchase, including in distance sales. |
| Warning word or pictogram | Warnings preceded by the word "Warning" or a generic warning pictogram. |
| Digital product passport | Manufacturers: created before the toy is placed on the market, in place of the EU declaration of conformity. |
| Data carrier | On the toy or an attached label, giving access to the passport. |
| Online marketplaces | Providers: an interface that lets traders show the CE marking, warnings and the passport data carrier. |
Where it goes wrong
One approved set of product information ends up in many channels, markets and languages. Along the way it gets shortened, translated and reworded, and some versions end up without the warnings or details these rules require.
Stacking blocks: Warning, not suitable for children under 36 months
How Arbitr helps
Read every version by hand? Or use AI to check what you publish against what you've already approved.
FAQ
Wherever a consumer can buy the toy. The EU Toy Safety Regulation describes warnings on the toy, a label or the packaging, and visible before purchase, including in distance sales,1 which for most toy brands means:
Keep each warning as approved wording with a version per language, linked to the toy's age grading, rather than retyping it for each pack. When the grading or wording changes, every language version and listing has to follow, and we usually find the old wording surviving in marketplace listings and catalogs. Our packaging and labels page shows how teams track this.
Check each listing shows the CE marking, the warnings and the data carrier or link to the digital product passport, the three things the text describes marketplaces letting traders show.1 Warnings that appear only inside a pack photo are where listings tend to fall short.
How it applies to a specific listing is a question for your legal adviser. Where that listing appears across your markets and languages is a question Arbitr answers.
Product safety and compliance teams usually own them, but warnings and passport codes are published by packaging, e-commerce, marketing and translation teams, and by retailers and marketplaces working from your data. Each needs the current version for every market. Other product information rules are on our product labeling hub, and UK marking rules on our UKCA marking page.
It replaces it. According to its text, Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 repeals Directive 2009/48/EC with effect from August 1, 2030, and as a regulation it applies directly in every member state rather than through national laws.1
The digital product passport. According to its text, the manufacturer creates one for each toy before placing it on the market, reached through a data carrier, and it takes the place of the EU declaration of conformity.1 Our digital product passport page covers the wider EU passport.
You update the approved version once. Arbitr checks what's already live against it and shows you every version still using the old wording.
