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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 and Qman with their certifications (f.e. EN 71).

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    I guess some brands are safer than others. You might want to read 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)
    – Henrik supports the community
    Feb 17, 2021 at 10:03
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    In my opinion an answer to your question cannot be found because of a fundamental distrust of the China supply chain. Remember link this is the supply chain that put industrial plasticizer in baby formula to boots protien test results.
    – Dan1138
    Feb 24, 2021 at 22:12
  • 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...
    – dpr
    Feb 26, 2021 at 12:05
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    I'm surprised no consumer testing magazine/organization (like Stiftung Warentest) seems to have tested non-LEGO® bricks. Probably the off-brand bricks are just gaining more and more attention as the quality seems to have improved and LEGO® ... (well it's LEGO®)
    – dpr
    Feb 26, 2021 at 12:10

2 Answers 2

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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. 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'*

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 in some cases).

You could always clean your new bricks 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.

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    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. support.ce-check.eu/hc/en-us/articles/…
    – Johan
    Mar 23, 2021 at 9:44
  • If there's someone out there whose job is simulating stepping on LEGO elements, I certainly hopr they're paid well!
    – Radvylf Programs
    Apr 27, 2021 at 20:43
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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.stack.imgur.com/4xe6s.png

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