Alex Trelinski
THE GUARDIA CIVIL has seized 10,696 toys from six shops in Manises for failing to follow European Union safety marking rules.
The Christmas campaign raids in the Valencia province town also resulted in two people being investigated for selling fake branded goods.
Seven stores were visited and all bar one were found to be breaking the law with 18 charges being laid against them for various infractions.
14 of the counts are for breaking toy safety laws; four for breaking no-smoking rules; and one for illegally selling vapes.
The total value of the seized merchandise was around €5,000.
Children’s toys must bear the distinctive ‘CE’ mark of the European Community which confirms compliance with trade rules within the bloc, includes safety standards.
The removed toys did not have the EU-approved marking and a lot of them also had the ‘CE’ lettering much closer together, which signifies ‘China Export’.
The toys themselves and packing were not labelled correctly and had no details about the importer, distributor or manufacturer.
Information was also not available in Spanish, and that was an issue with instructions for the toys, which did not have them at all or were solely in a foreign language.
The Guardia Civil said that those responsible for the safety of toys in the European Union are the manufacturers, importers and distributors who put these products on the market.
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