GB 6675.4-2025Safety of toys - Part 4: Migration of certain elements (English PDF)

1 Scope

GB 6675.4 is the part of the Chinese toy safety standard that governs the migration of certain elements: how much antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and selenium can come out of a toy material into a child who mouths or swallows it. The point is migration rather than content, which is the whole difficulty of the method: the material is treated with dilute hydrochloric acid at body temperature to simulate the conditions in a stomach, and what dissolves is measured. The document sets the maximum acceptable migration for each element by material category and describes the preparation of the sample and the analytical procedure. Lead and cadmium in paint and in plastic are the two findings that most often stop a toy consignment at a Chinese port. The 2025 edition, effective 1 November 2026, replaces GB 6675.4-2014 and is aligned with the current ISO 8124-3. Compliance is a precondition of CCC certification and of sale in China.

1.1 This document specifies the maximum limits, sampling methods, test specimen preparation and extraction procedures for migratable elements - antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and boron - in toy materials and toy components.

1.2 The maximum limits for migratable elements specified in this document apply to the following toy materials. - Paints, varnishes, lacquer, inks, polymer coatings, and similar coatings (see 8.1); - Polymers and similar materials, including laminates with or without textile reinforcement, but excluding other textiles and nonwovens (see 8.2); - Paper and cardboard (see 8.3); - Natural, artificial, or synthetic textiles (see 8.4); - Glass/ceramic/metallic materials, except for lead solder used for electrical connections (see 8.5);

Note. Stone, gemstones, and similar materials are classified as glass/ceramic/metallic materials. - Other dyeable materials, whether or not they are dyed (e.g., wood, fiberboard, hardboard, bone, leather) (see 8.6); - Materials that leave marks [including graphite in pencils, colored or colorless liquids (e.g., liquid ink in pens, bubble solution, etc.)] (see 8.7); - Soft modeling materials, including modeling clay, slime, crystal slime, gels (see 8.8); - Pigments used in toys, including finger paints, varnishes, lacquer, enamel powders, and other similar solid or liquid materials (see 8.9).

1.3 This document applies to the following toys, toy parts, toy materials (see A.2.1). - All toys intended for contact with food or mouth, toy cosmetics, writing instruments belonging to the toy category, regardless of age or recommended age label; - All toys intended for or intended for use by children under 72 months of age; - Accessible coatings, regardless of age or recommended age label; - Accessible liquids, pastes, gels (e.g., liquid paints, modeling compounds), regardless of age or recommended age label.

1.4 This document does not apply to packaging materials unless they are intended to be retained, such as boxes or containers, or unless they form part of a toy or are designed to be playable (see A.2.2). This document does not apply to plant seeds.

Note. Considering normal and predictable behavior of children, this document does not require certain toys and toy parts that, due to their accessibility, function, quality, size, or other characteristics, clearly preclude the possibility of being sucked, licked, or swallowed (e.g., coatings on the crossbeams of rocking devices, tires of toy bicycles, etc.).

2 Normative references

The following documents, through normative references herein, constitute essential provisions of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies; for undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

GB 6675.2 Safety of toys - Part

3 Terms and definitions

The following terms and definitions apply to this document.

3.1 Flexible solid or semi-solid mixtures that retain their shape and form after being molded into a specific shape. Note

1.Also includes various materials intended for use by children or with children as the primary user group in the creation of modeling clay and putties. Note

2.This material is used to create object images through manual manipulation or to extrude toy outlines from other tools/toys.

3.12 Toy cosmetics Products used solely for finishing toys (such as dolls).

3.13 Method blank Test results obtained from blank tests conducted by the laboratory using the test methods employed.

4 Technical requirements

4.1 Maximum limit requirements The content of migratable elements in toy materials shall comply with the maximum limit requirements specified in Table

1.When toys and toy parts are tested for toy materials according to Chapters 7 ~ 9, the corrected values for the test results of migratable elements in toys and toy parts shall comply with the maximum limits specified in Table 1.

4.2 Results explanation Due to the precision limitations of the testing methods, a calibrated analytical result is required when considering inter-laboratory test results. The analytical results obtained according to Chapters 7 ~ 9 shall be subtracted from the calibration value, which is calculated in Table 2 to obtain the calibrated analytical result. Toy materials are considered compliant, if the calibrated analytical result is lower than or equal to the maximum limit requirements specified in Table 1. Example. The analytical result for lead is 120 mg/kg. The analytical correction factor for lead in Table 2 is 30%. Therefore. Corrected analytical result = 120 - 120 × 30% = 120 - 36 = 84 (mg/kg). This result is considered to meet the requirements (the maximum limit for the migratable element lead given in Table 1 is 90 mg/kg).

5 Principle

Migrative elements are migratable substances extracted from toy materials under conditions simulating prolonged contact with gastric acid after swallowing. The content of migratable elements is quantitatively determined using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry or other analytical methods that meet the specified detection limits.

6 Reagents and instruments

This chapter does not make recommendations regarding the reagents, materials, instruments required for elemental analysis according to the detection limits specified in Chapter 9.

6.1 Reagents Unless otherwise specified, all reagents shall be of analytical grade.

6.1.1 Hydrochloric acid solution c(HCl) = (0.07 ± 0.005) mol/L. The temperature is kept constant during shaking. (37 ± 2) °C.

7 Sampling of test specimens

The toy samples provided for testing shall be toys intended for sale or intended to be sold. Test specimens shall be obtained from the accessible portion of a single toy sample. The same material from a single toy may be combined as a single test specimen, but materials from other toy samples shall not be used simultaneously. Test specimens shall not contain more than one material or color, unless the sample cannot be effectively separated by physical separation methods (e.g., due to spot dyeing, printed textiles, or quality limitations). See Appendix C for the selection of testing procedures for various toy materials. Note

1.Obtaining test specimens from the materials used in toy production is not excluded, provided that the test specimen is representative of the final toy. Note

2.Accessible portions of a toy sample include accessible toy materials after normal use and foreseeable reasonable misuse. Specimens with a material mass less than 10 mg do not require testing.