Canadian Wooden Toy Requirements
Canada regulates toys through its own federal regulations rather than by adopting another market’s standard, and it adds one requirement that no other market asks for: the labelling has to be in English and French.
How Canada regulates toys
Canada sets its own requirements instead of adopting EN71 or ASTM F963, which means a wooden toy needs a Canadian test programme rather than a file copied from another market.
- The statute is the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which prohibits the supply of a product that is a danger to health or safety.
- The regulation for toys is the Toys Regulations, which set out the mechanical, toxicological and flammability requirements in detail.
- The regulator is Health Canada, which carries out inspections and can order a recall where a product does not comply.
- The duty to hold evidence of compliance sits with the importer, who has to be able to produce test records on request.
Canadian requirements for a wooden toy
| Legal basis | The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act and the Toys Regulations made under it. A toy must meet the Regulations before it can be sold in Canada. |
|---|---|
| Mechanical hazards | The Regulations set requirements for mechanical hazards, including small parts, sharp edges and points, and the specific hazards that apply to toys for young children. |
| Toxicological hazards | Limits apply to heavy metals and other toxic substances in the toy and in its surface coating, assessed on the toy as supplied. |
| Flammability | Requirements apply to the flammability of toys, and certain materials are restricted outright. |
| Labelling | Warnings and instructions must appear in both English and French, which Canada requires and the EU and the US do not. |
| Documentation | Test reports from an accredited laboratory, held by the importer, so the importer can demonstrate compliance on request. |
What the Toys Regulations require
- Mechanical hazards. Small parts, sharp edges and points, and the requirements that apply to toys intended for young children, including the age grading on the packaging.
- Toxicological hazards. Limits on heavy metals and other toxic substances, applied to the toy and to its surface coating, which is where the paint on a wooden toy is assessed.
- Flammability. Requirements on how a toy behaves when exposed to a flame, and restrictions on certain materials.
- Specific products. Separate requirements exist for particular toy types, so a ride-on toy is assessed differently from a puzzle.
The bilingual requirement
This is the requirement that most often delays a Canadian launch, because it is a labelling rule rather than a test.
- Both languages, not one of them. Warnings and instructions have to be in English and French, so a pack printed for the US market is not sufficient on its own.
- It applies to the warnings. Safety information and instructions are the part that must be bilingual, and the wording is not a free translation — it has to carry the same meaning.
- It affects the artwork. The panel space, the font size and the layout all change once two languages are on the pack, so it is cheaper to decide early.
We produce the artwork in both languages to the wording you approve, and print it in the same run as the rest of the packaging.
What we supply for a Canadian order
- Test reports for the item and the material combination against the applicable Canadian requirements.
- Material declarations for the wood, board, coatings and added parts, since the toxicological limits apply to both the substrate and the coating.
- Bilingual English and French warning and instruction artwork, produced to the wording you approve.
- Batch records linking the shipped cartons to the production run.
- FSC chain of custody where FSC stock is specified (certificate ESTS-COC-240650), and BSCI social audit documentation.
Canada sits alongside the other markets on Wooden Toy Import Requirements; the US side is on the CPSIA page and the EU side on the CE marking page.
Where Canada differs from the US
- A separate test programme. Canada does not accept an ASTM F963 report as compliance on its own, because the Toys Regulations set their own requirements.
- Bilingual labelling. There is no equivalent requirement in the US, so the packaging artwork has to be produced separately from a US pack.
- Adapted packaging. Metric units are used in Canada, so dimensions, weights and any capacity figures on a US pack are not carried over unchanged.
Related: CPSIA for wooden toys · Wooden toy safety standards · Wooden toy import requirements · OEM wooden toys · Private label wooden toys · Wooden toy manufacturer · Request a quotation
Frequently asked questions
Which regulation applies to wooden toys in Canada?
The Toys Regulations made under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act. They set the mechanical, toxicological and flammability requirements that a toy must meet before it can be sold in Canada.
Do Canadian toys need to be labelled in French?
Yes. Warnings and instructions must appear in both English and French, which is a requirement that the EU and the US do not have.
Are the limits the same as in the US?
No. Canada sets its own requirements in the Toys Regulations, so the testing follows the Canadian requirements rather than the US ones, even where the underlying hazards are similar.
Is a US test report accepted for Canada?
Not on its own. The Canadian requirements are separate, so we test to the applicable Canadian requirements for an order going to Canada.
What about a toy that goes to both Canada and the US?
It needs both test programmes, and the labelling and packaging are produced for each market rather than shared, because of the bilingual requirement and the units.
Who holds the test records?
The importer holds them so they can be produced on request. We provide the reports and the material declarations that the records are based on.
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