Letter from Mr. Habermaass
Habermaass GmbH Germany
Declaration of safety, in particular with regard to materials used in the toys that we manufacture.
Dear Customer,
In light of the current debate on the safety and harmlessness of
toys we are taking the opportunity to inform you, our customers, about
the quality management processes and materials used in the HABA family
of companies.
We manufacture our products according to these fundamental principles:
With the exception of wooden puzzles and Master Builder
construction sets, wooden toys are produced at our production site in
Bad Rodach. We work together with German partners who have already been
supplying us with first class stains, varnishes and print colors for
years. These raw materials are continually being further developed and
correspond to all standards and laws for the safety of toys. The
materials we use for colored surface treatment of wooden toys and the
clear varnish coating that follows are fundamentally waterbased and
therefore do not contain any harmful solvents.
A few of our wooden toys, such as wooden puzzles and the Master
Builder construction sets are manufactured in China by qualified
suppliers. However, these suppliers work to the same quality standards
as HABA in Bad Rodach. It is not possible to manufacture these
process-intensive products in Germany at a price that is in line with
the market.
Fabric toys and some plastic items are manufactured by a few
suppliers who are selected according to strict criteria. Suppliers must
be certified in accordance with the ICTI Code of Business Practices (http://www.toy-icti.org).
We regularly inspect and audit these suppliers. The individual
materials used in fabric toys are inspected and monitored in Germany in
their raw state (e.g. paints in liquid form). Unfortunately for reasons
of cost it is not possible to manufacture these items in Germany. The
sale price would be many times over a range that is acceptable for
customers.
Our materials and product inspections go way beyond the applicable
provisions. However, a 100% inspection is not possible for production
in China or Germany.
Our guarantee:
The highly sophisticated materials that we use are free from
harmful heavy metals (lead and chrome etc.) and correspond to the
prescriptions of EU standards and the American ASTM.
Our tests extend far beyond statutory provisions and entail high
financial expenditure. The Landesgewerbeanstalt Bayern (LGA) in
Nuremberg, an independent testing institute with years of international
experience tests all of our materials and the finished toys to protect
our children, in accordance with the following guidelines, standards
and laws:  | EN 71 - European Standard for Toy Safety
| | ASTM F 963 - Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety
| | EU directive 76/769 EEC on azo-dyes (forbidden amine)
| | Chemicals prohibition ordinance (national) stannous-organic compound |
Quality management:
We have installed a constant quality management system in our
manufacture and goods entrance department, which reports directly to
the management. This guarantees fully independent test processes for
the safety of children. | Good entrance inspections of materials
| | Constant monitoring of materials by an independent testing laboratory according to current requirements
| | Ongoing checks by trained staff during in-house processing of paints and varnishes
| | Sample goods entrance inspections of ready-assembled toys in accordance with AQL 2.5.
| | Constant adjustment to global legal requirements for toys |
We
produce our toys with the highest possible level of safety. When you
choose HABA you are choosing a quality product that corresponds to all
valid directives and provisions. That is guaranteed by the staff and
management of the HABA family of companies!
Bad Rodach August 22, 2007
Habermaass GmbH
Klaus Habermaass
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