By Andy Keimach, Interim President & CEO, The Toy Association
Since taking on the role of interim president & chief executive at The Toy Association, I have spoken to many industry leaders: both members and non-members, manufacturers of all types and sizes, inventors, the specialty retail community, and many others, to learn how our Association can be of service to the entire toy community. In those conversations I have heard about the unique needs of different stakeholders, but one common theme threaded throughout these discussions is how crucial our advocacy work is.
The Toy Association’s global advocacy efforts to protect the business of play and ensure the safety of children everywhere continue to be a cornerstone of our work in support of your success. The Toy Association team is strategically based across the U.S. to ensure access to states with high legislative activity, and our Washington, DC-based staff has proximity to Capitol Hill. Our staff also travels to dozens of key markets around the world to advocate for the alignment of global toy safety standards and address barriers to trade. Our goal is to open more doors for U.S. toy companies, stop misguided and overlapping new laws, and reduce regulatory burdens that do nothing to advance safety.
STATE ISSUES
At the state level, we are currently tracking nearly 450 bills across 39 states. Led by Ed Desmond, executive vice president of global government & regulatory affairs, our team is focused on 126 chemical and material legislation bills, 125 privacy and children’s online safety bills, and 67 bills related to packaging and extended producer responsibility. Though action is not anticipated until later this spring, our staff also continues efforts to update Pennsylvania’s Stuffed Toy Law to allow for the use of recycled materials in toys sold in the state.
Several states including Washington, New York, and New Jersey, are actively pursuing single-use plastic and packaging EPR programs, reflecting a growing focus on environmental responsibility, and we are seeing intensifying efforts across several states to enhance protections for children online, especially on social media platforms. Staff remains actively engaged on these issues, working directly with government agencies and lawmakers to ensure the toy industry’s concerns are heard and to help shape emerging legislation.
FEDERAL ISSUES
Federally, The Toy Association is involved in trade, environmental, and intellectual property issues, as well as safety standards.
Our staff has been educating policymakers about the harm that would be caused if China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relation status were to be revoked. If this were to happen, we would very likely see tariffs on toys being elevated to 70 percent. By comparison, tariffs proposed by the Border Adjustment Tax in 2017 (which we strongly advocated against) would have raised tariffs to 25 percent. These conversations continue to be a high priority of ours; we are also in communication with the United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai regarding the removal of Section 301 tariffs on toys, which were implemented in 2018.
Our work to promote Intellectual Property (IP) protection continues, as do our efforts to ensure dangerous counterfeit toys don’t make it into family homes. We continue to advocate for legislation that holds online marketplaces accountable for counterfeit goods sold on their platforms. We have successfully advocated on the INFORM Consumers Act (which went into effect in June 2023) and to achieve the reintroduction of the SHOP SAFE Act, and continue to liaise with the FTC, the IP Rights Center, and the USPTO on ongoing anti-counterfeiting efforts, which are so essential to the toy industry and the safety of our young customers.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SAFETY ACTIVITY
In the environmental area, we have commented on the FTC Green Guides to provide toy industry perspectives on potential updates and changes to the guides, which provide industry with guidance on environmental marketing claims. As part of the Ad Hoc Downstream Users Coalition, we have been in communication with the EPA regarding rulemaking changes for chemical substance reporting and fees.
And our work to help revise the ASTM F963 standard for toy safety has ensured the globally emulated standard keeps pace with product innovation and the latest intel on child behavior and risk. The subcommittee overseeing this standard is chaired by Joan Lawrence, The Toy Association’s senior vice president of standards and regulatory affairs, and many of our staff and members are involved in this important subcommittee work.
This is just a small sampling of our advocacy activities. Each day, our team is tackling new issues, oftentimes behind the scenes and unknown to many of you. Yet you can rest assured this important work is being done on your behalf. We keep the industry apprised of these efforts via our Toy News Tuesday newsletter (you can subscribe here if you haven’t already) and we invite all members to be a part of any one of our advocacy committees. Our committees (from international and federal committees to state, environmental, and more) hold virtual meetings on a regular basis to strategize actions on specific areas of interest to the toy industry. Please contact Ed Desmond, executive vice president of global government & regulatory affairs, if you’d like to learn more or join a committee (edesmond@toyassociation.org).
