Party supplies and balloon company Amscan has responded to recent concerns regarding changes to its packaging, labeling and CE markings.
Following up on concerns throughout the industry, George Oustayiannis – chairman of NABAS and managing director of GO International – got in touch with Amscan to allay any concerns from balloon professionals and to find out more about the changes and what they meant.
The company’s product compliance department replied, explaining that CE marking is a self-declaration by the manufacturer itself that a product complies with the EU product safety standards.
The CE markings which appear on many products traded within the European Economic Area (EEA) show that products sold in the region have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. CE marking also supports fair competition by holding all companies accountable to the same rules.
“Anagram reviewed its product lines internally and with various international organisations, including Toy Industry of America, the European Balloon & Party Council and third party testing organizations and we recognized the need to more specifically categorize foil balloons according to foreseeable and intended use,” said the statement.
“The vast majority of our foil balloons, for example, basic shapes, numerals and letters, are intended for decorative purposes. In these cases where the inflatable foil balloon has no play value or intent or likelihood to be used in play, we have classified them as decorations and provided corresponding packaging statements. For example: ‘This product is a decoration, not a toy. Keep away from children, flames and direct heat sources.'”
It continued; “We are currently in the transition period and this will be a continued rolling change. In some cases, inflatable foil balloons will have play value or intention to be used in play. For these situations, play value products will continue to be tested and labeled as toys in accordance with applicable regulations and standards, for example EN 71. We feel that classification and labeling of decorative foil balloons as decorations, where applicable, ultimately protects the consumer from inappropriate and unintended use.”
