In the winter of 2008-2009, the Consumer Agency monitored the safety of small children’s textiles. ’Small children’ were defined as children of 0 to 7 years of age and all children with a height of 134 cm or shorter. The textiles under inspection included outdoor clothes, bed linen, bibs and baby changing station pads, in turn totalling 35 pieces. The items that were tested were bought at specialist shops selling children's clothes and department stores and supermarkets in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

This monitoring project was launched with the purpose to discover whether the requirements concerning formaldehyde, nickel, azo dye and phthalate contents in these products were met. Only in one baby changing mattresses was the formaldehyde content found to well exceed the legislative limit. The manufacturer of the mattress has informed the Consumer Agency that it has changed the manufacturing materials to comply with all rules and regulations. The Consumer Agency has also sent a reminder to other manufacturers and importers about the requirements set by the respective product safety legislation.

Furthermore, other safety related issues, such as the strings and drawstrings attached to clothes, were emphasised in the surveillance project. In clothes designed for small children, there must not be any strings or drawstrings at all around the hood or neck area due to the safety risks they pose. A child might, for example, get the drawstrings tangled on a climbing frame, a slide or a vehicle and, consequently, become strangled. Elastic drawstrings and strings with a bead on the end may also cause eye and tooth injuries when children chew and stretch them continuously with their teeth. Moreover, specific requirements have been set for strings located in the waist area.

Strings and drawstrings in the hood and neck areas were found in several pieces of clothing and in one baby sleep bag. The companies that have manufactured these items have made a withdrawal the products, and they will not be made available before the strings and drawstrings have been removed from them. The manufacturers have also informed of this matter by posting “Tärkeä turvallisuustiedote” (Important safety notice) notices in newspapers and stores. The announcements encourage consumers to cut the strings and drawstrings off the clothes.

Another aim of the market surveillance project was to check the labelling of the products. The decree on information to be supplied in respect on consumer goods provides that the name of the manufacturer, or the party for which the good has been manufactured, be clearly stated on the product in Finnish and Swedish. Apart from this information, instructions for care must be given either in symbols or letters. As concerns textiles, the Consumer Protection Act also requires that the fibre contents information be provided.

In a majority of the goods monitored in the project, labelling was found to comply with the legislative requirements. In some products, however, the name of the manufacturer, the name of the party for whom the good had been manufactured or the cleaning instructions were missing. The Consumer Agency has reminded the manufacturers of these products about these failures and urged them to ensure that their labelling is made appropriate in the future.

The Consumer Agency points out that the responsibility for the safety of products lies with the manufacturer, importer and seller of these products. The authorities will conduct spot checks. Parents should pay special attention to the clothing of their small children and ensure that the clothes do not have strings or drawstrings located around the hood or neck areas.

On the Consumer Agency maintained WWW service, consumers and companies can find information on those products for which an important safety announcement has been filed. The service publishes the name of the recalled product and other related information, the picture of the product and the contact information of the importer so that, if needed, consumers can obtain further information and instructions on how to act.

The European Commission maintains the RAPEX database on those products on the EU market that have been found to be dangerous. The database lists several small children’s products with banned strings and drawstrings as well as other textiles and footwear that have been found lacking in safety.

The Consumer Agency’s recall table (in Finnish and Swedish)

List of products on the EU market found to be lacking in safety (Weekly notifications of the European Commission RAPEX database)