Answers.Body: <blockquote>
  <p>Is there some kind of official source regarding the safety of bricks
  made by brands other than LEGO®?</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>As far as I am aware, no.  At least not specifically for construction brick toys.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Some brands (Xingbao, CaDa, Mould King, Happy Build, ...) have some
  really nice sets (original designs of course) and are officially
  available for purchase in the EU/Germany so they need to have a CE
  marking and possibly passed other tests like TÜV.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>The CE marking indicates a product has passed health, safety, and environmental protection standards for sale within the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area" rel="nofollow noreferrer">European Economic Area</a>. The individual tests vary between industries but are not necessarily a certification of quality. The CE marking is also found on products sold outside the EEA that have been manufactured to EEA standards.</p>
  <p>LEGO products adhere to the EU Toy Safety Directive and the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The approval process involves 'simulating things like children biting, dropping, and stepping on LEGO elements to ensure they don’t break'<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-gb/aboutus/sustainability/children/product-safety/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">*</a></p>
  <p>In regards to the concern of chemical safety of LEGO clones, CE is a good indicator that a product passes certain safety criteria, there are of course other certification marks covering different regions.</p>
  <p>If a LEGO clone has no credible certification mark does that mean it is unsafe? We simply do not know. The effort to test the safety of all these uncertified brands is too great. Parts vary widely in their colour (each individual colour has a unique chemical composition) as well as material (whether they are hard plastics, soft plastics, transparent, opaque or even <a href="https://brickset.com/colours/type-Glitter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">glitter plastics</a> in some cases).</p>
  <p>You could always <a href="https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/15460/132">clean your new bricks</a> as a precaution, if you suspect that there might be any surface level contamination, such as oil or plastic residue used in the manufacturing process. This will not make a difference to any toxic chemicals in the composition of the bricks.</p>
  <p>In summary, if you do not see a certification marking that you can trust, there is no guarantee of safety.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-23T09:44:59.343Z
Answers.Text: When it comes to CE markings, it's important to check if it's a real CE mark for the EEA though, because China tries to deceive customers with a similar 'China Export' logo.
  See e.g. https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-How-To-Distinguish-A-Real-CE-Mark-From-A-Fake-Chinese-Export-Mark
Answers.UserDisplayName: Johan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-04-27T20:43:11.210Z
Answers.Text: If there's someone out there whose job is simulating stepping on LEGO elements, I certainly hopr they're paid well!
Answers.UserDisplayName: rydwolf
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-15T13:10:01.197Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-03-15T13:10:01.197Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ambo100
Answers.Body: <p>Most of them are safe, because they are made mainly out of abs plastic, but with Lego, you will be getting higher quality pieces, and you know you will always be getting the best pieces, because of quality control. From my past experience, china bricks seem fine safety wise, but I have noticed significant differences on how well the gears work, and how easy the pieces stick together.</p>
  <p>A comparison of off-brand Legos: <a href="https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.6.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.6.pdf</a></p>
  <p>an example of the quality of a Lego brick compared to other bricks
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4xe6s.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://i.sstatic.net/4xe6s.png</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-24T06:24:06.333Z
Answers.Text: Question is not about plastic, but the chemicals used to produce required colors and give necessary properties to these plastics. This concern has been raised with LEGO bricks quite a few times - [Do old LEGO bricks contain lead, cadmium, or other hazardous elements?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/1020/do-old-lego-bricks-contain-lead-cadmium-or-other-hazardous-elements) and [Was there ever cadmium in LEGO bricks?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/8543/was-there-ever-cadmium-in-lego-bricks)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alex
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-02-24T00:09:28.537Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-02-24T00:17:13.270Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2021-02-24T00:17:13.270Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: BrickingAway
Body: <p>Is there some kind of official source regarding the safety of bricks made by brands other than LEGO®?</p>
  <p>I'm not talking about choking hazard or similar (these are obvious) but heavy metal (lead, ..) or other chemicals in the bricks.</p>
  <p>Some brands (Xingbao, CaDa, Mould King, Happy Build, ...) have some really nice sets (original designs of course) and are officially available for purchase in the EU/Germany so they need to have a CE marking and possibly passed other tests like TÜV. But there doesn't seem to be a comprehensive source on which brands to avoid or which ones are considered good.</p>
  <hr />
  <p><em>UPDATE:</em></p>
  <p>I found the page of the &quot;China Toy &amp; Juvenile Products Association&quot; (CTJPA) where several suppliers are listed including <a href="https://tjpa-china.org/supplier/supplier-details?id=14076607788" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sembo</a> and <a href="https://tjpa-china.org/supplier/supplier-details?id=16828691384" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Qman</a> with their certifications (f.e. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_71" rel="nofollow noreferrer">EN 71</a>).</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-17T10:03:01.350Z
Comments.Text: I guess some brands are safer than others. You might want to read https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.8.pdf (unfortunately I haven't been able to find a newer version, versions were made annually from 2014-2018)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Henrik supports the community
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-24T22:12:42.457Z
Comments.Text: In my opinion an answer to your question cannot be found because of a fundamental distrust of the China supply chain. Remember [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal) this is the supply chain that put industrial plasticizer in baby formula to boots protien test results.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Dan1138
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-26T12:05:43.753Z
Comments.Text: Given that perceived 90% of all goods are "Made in China" including phones, toys, ... (actually no food!) and no one seems to worried about that, I don't think there is a fundamental distrust in the Chinese supply chain in general. However with bricks being somehow special as there are multiple sources (amazon, aliexpress, whish.com, yourwobb.com, ..) where sets can be bought directly in China with no "official" importer involved...
Comments.UserDisplayName: dpr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-02-26T12:10:41.660Z
Comments.Text: I'm surprised no consumer testing magazine/organization (like Stiftung Warentest) seems  to have tested non-LEGO&reg; bricks. Probably the off-brand bricks are just gaining more and more attention as the quality seems to have improved and LEGO&reg; ... (well it's LEGO&reg;)
Comments.UserDisplayName: dpr
Tags: <clone-brands><safety>
Title: Are Chinese clone brands considered to be safe for children?
UserDisplayName: dpr
ThreadText: # Are Chinese clone brands considered to be safe for children?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-16)
  
  Is there some kind of official source regarding the safety of bricks made by brands other than LEGO®?
  
  I'm not talking about choking hazard or similar (these are obvious) but heavy metal (lead, ..) or other chemicals in the bricks.
  
  Some brands (Xingbao, CaDa, Mould King, Happy Build, ...) have some really nice sets (original designs of course) and are officially available for purchase in the EU/Germany so they need to have a CE marking and possibly passed other tests like TÜV. But there doesn't seem to be a comprehensive source on which brands to avoid or which ones are considered good.
  
  ---
  
  *UPDATE:*
  
  I found the page of the "China Toy & Juvenile Products Association" (CTJPA) where several suppliers are listed including [Sembo](https://tjpa-china.org/supplier/supplier-details?id=14076607788) and [Qman](https://tjpa-china.org/supplier/supplier-details?id=16828691384) with their certifications (f.e. [EN 71](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_71)).
  
  **Tags:** clone-brands, safety
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I guess some brands are safer than others. You might want to read https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.8.pdf (unfortunately I haven't been able to find a newer version, versions were made annually from 2014-2018)  
  > **username_2**: In my opinion an answer to your question cannot be found because of a fundamental distrust of the China supply chain. Remember [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal) this is the supply chain that put industrial plasticizer in baby formula to boots protien test results.  
  > **username_0**: Given that perceived 90% of all goods are "Made in China" including phones, toys, ... (actually no food!) and no one seems to worried about that, I don't think there is a fundamental distrust in the Chinese supply chain in general. However with bricks being somehow special as there are multiple sources (amazon, aliexpress, whish.com, yourwobb.com, ..) where sets can be bought directly in China with no "official" importer involved...  
  > **username_0**: I'm surprised no consumer testing magazine/organization (like Stiftung Warentest) seems  to have tested non-LEGO&reg; bricks. Probably the off-brand bricks are just gaining more and more attention as the quality seems to have improved and LEGO&reg; ... (well it's LEGO&reg;)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2021-03-15. Score: 3
  
  > Is there some kind of official source regarding the safety of bricks
  > made by brands other than LEGO®?
  
  As far as I am aware, no. At least not specifically for construction brick toys.
  
  > Some brands (Xingbao, CaDa, Mould King, Happy Build, ...) have some
  > really nice sets (original designs of course) and are officially
  > available for purchase in the EU/Germany so they need to have a CE
  > marking and possibly passed other tests like TÜV.
  
  The CE marking indicates a product has passed health, safety, and environmental protection standards for sale within the [European Economic Area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area). The individual tests vary between industries but are not necessarily a certification of quality. The CE marking is also found on products sold outside the EEA that have been manufactured to EEA standards.
  
  LEGO products adhere to the EU Toy Safety Directive and the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The approval process involves 'simulating things like children biting, dropping, and stepping on LEGO elements to ensure they don’t break'[\*](https://www.lego.com/en-gb/aboutus/sustainability/children/product-safety/)
  
  In regards to the concern of chemical safety of LEGO clones, CE is a good indicator that a product passes certain safety criteria, there are of course other certification marks covering different regions.
  
  If a LEGO clone has no credible certification mark does that mean it is unsafe? We simply do not know. The effort to test the safety of all these uncertified brands is too great. Parts vary widely in their colour (each individual colour has a unique chemical composition) as well as material (whether they are hard plastics, soft plastics, transparent, opaque or even [glitter plastics](https://brickset.com/colours/type-Glitter) in some cases).
  
  You could always [clean your new bricks](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/15460/132) as a precaution, if you suspect that there might be any surface level contamination, such as oil or plastic residue used in the manufacturing process. This will not make a difference to any toxic chemicals in the composition of the bricks.
  
  In summary, if you do not see a certification marking that you can trust, there is no guarantee of safety.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: When it comes to CE markings, it's important to check if it's a real CE mark for the EEA though, because China tries to deceive customers with a similar 'China Export' logo. See e.g. https://support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/360008642600-How-To-Distinguish-A-Real-CE-Mark-From-A-Fake-Chinese-Export-Mark  
  > **username_5**: If there's someone out there whose job is simulating stepping on LEGO elements, I certainly hopr they're paid well!  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2021-02-24. Score: -2
  
  Most of them are safe, because they are made mainly out of abs plastic, but with Lego, you will be getting higher quality pieces, and you know you will always be getting the best pieces, because of quality control. From my past experience, china bricks seem fine safety wise, but I have noticed significant differences on how well the gears work, and how easy the pieces stick together.
  
  A comparison of off-brand Legos: <https://uploads.brickset.com/docs/clonebrands_v1.6.pdf>
  
  an example of the quality of a Lego brick compared to other bricks
  <https://i.sstatic.net/4xe6s.png>
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_7**: Question is not about plastic, but the chemicals used to produce required colors and give necessary properties to these plastics. This concern has been raised with LEGO bricks quite a few times - [Do old LEGO bricks contain lead, cadmium, or other hazardous elements?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/1020/do-old-lego-bricks-contain-lead-cadmium-or-other-hazardous-elements) and [Was there ever cadmium in LEGO bricks?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/8543/was-there-ever-cadmium-in-lego-bricks)  
  
  ---
  
  