West Dunbartonshire Council Trading Standards, along with other local authorities took part in a project promoted by the West of Scotland Safety working group. The project was designed to ensure compliance with the REACH Enforcement Regulation (Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) 2008 with specific regard to phthalate content in Toys.
A similar project took place in 2007 which culminated in Poundland being found guilty and fined £3000 due to an offence of supplying goods found to contain excessive levels of phthalates which was contrary to The Controls on Dangerous Substances and Preparations Regulations 2006.
The chemical Phthalate is commonly used in plastic goods, its presence softens PVC, makes it more pliable and extends the durability of the product. However the variants of phthalate contained in the some of the goods which were purchased may have serious and often irreversible effects on humans and the environment. Namely they are suspected to have an ability to impair fertility and be toxic to reproduction. For this reason their use is limited to 0.1% by mass of plastisised materials for toys.
Four authorities reported failures from local branches of Poundland Ltd, some of the failures contained 13 times the permitted levels with the highest containing 95 times that which is permitted by the Regulations. Due to these failures a joint report was submitted by West Dunbartonshire Council Trading Standards in partnership with North Lanarkshire Trading Standards to the Hamilton Procurator Fiscals office. As a result of this action Poundland Ltd pled guilty to one of the charges with two others being dropped. They were given a fine of £7,500 which had been reduced from £10,000 because of an early guilty plea being submitted by the company.
