Advice from the Office of Fair Trading: With Halloween just around the corner, many consumers will be purchasing fancy dress costumes and associated items for their children to celebrate the occasion. Fancy dress costumes and items intended for play for children under the age of 14 are usually classified as toys and, as such, must conform to rigorous safety standards that ensure children’s’ safety. Many consumers may also already be thinking of what toys they will be purchasing their children for Christmas.

As part of its awareness program the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Consumer Protection Team are conducting an awareness campaign with the theme: Toy Safety.

The objective of the campaign is to provide consumers with guidance in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of purchasing unsafe toys and to assist consumers to identify and avoid them.

The OFT will be using their social media platforms to raise this awareness, with posts on the subject going out every day for the remaining month of October.

Additionally the Consumer Protection Enforcers of the OFT will be conducting inspections at local toy retailer stores to ensure their products are complying with appropriate safety standards.

The key messages of the campaign are as follows:

- Check labelling for genuine safety certifications, such as ‘CE’ and ‘UKCA’ markings;

- Take special care with products containing button cells and magnets as they are very
dangerous for children;

- Buy age-appropriate items for your child and avoid choke hazards;

- Always buy costumes and toys from reputable sellers and legitimate sources; and

- During Halloween keep children in fancy dress away from naked flames;

Follow the OFT’s social media pages to stay up to date with information relating to Toy Safety and other Consumer related matters:

Facebook - OFT Gibraltar

Instagram - @OFTgib

Twitter - @OFTGib