What is ICTI?

ICTI stands for International Council of Toys Industry. Founded in 1974 as an association of 20 toy trade associations including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of ICTI′s mandate is to ensure toys are produced in safe and humane environments. To achieve this, it developed a single, efficient and coherent ethical standard, the Code of Business Practices and auditing protocLI to be adopted by factories. Upon successful completion of an ICTI certification audit, the factory will be awarded with an ICTI certificate as demonstration to having satisfied with the Code′s provisions.

Initial focus of the ICTI certification is on China, where 80% of the toys manufactured there are sLId in the West.

How to acquire an ICTI Certificate?

At the moment, only factories in China will need to undergo ICTI certification. A factory will receive the certificate if it can demonstrate that it is complying with ICTI′s Code of Business Practice after being audited by Intertek. ICTI′s monitoring checklists, guidance document and Code of Buisiness Practice can be downloaded from the ICTI website at http://www.toy-icti.org

Support of ICTI certification

Some US Toy companies have committed to a "Date Certain" after which they will only accept toys/products from ICTI-certified factories:

4Kidz; Alexander DLIl; b.dazzle; Carrom; Corgi Classics; Creative Designs; Elope; Faber-Castell USA/Creativity for Kids; Funrise; Hasbro; Hedstrom; JAKKS Pacific; K′NEX; Leapfrog; Lego Systems; Maisto; Manhattan Toy; Mattel; Mega Bloks; Melissa & Doug - Lights, Camera, Interaction; Playmates Toys; Radica; Radio Flyer; Salo Ventures; Seymour Mann; Soundprints; Strombecker; Take & Gamble Games; TAL TEX/Texas Popguns; and Wild Planet.

Benefits of ICTI certification for suppliers:

• Avoid multiple audits
• Recognized by Toy Retailers (see above)
• Preferred supplier
• Enhance manufacturing safety and health.