• Choosing Christmas gifts for the little ones? Looking for a gift for your loved ones? Remember your rights if you buy the wrong product?
• #Id±¦więta (#ChristmasisComing) – see UOKiK’s tips and hints for what to pay attention to when choosing toys, gift cards or personalised gifts.
• We also present the results of toy inspection carried out jointly with the National Revenue Administration — at the border, NRA officers detained over 28,000 non-compliant products.

Choosing gifts for loved ones and Christmas preparations make December a challenging time. That is why we have prepared some practical tips and hints for consumers as part of the #Id±¦więta campaign. You can also follow our campaign on Instagram uokikgovpl!

Safety first

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection oversees the market and together with the Trade Inspection Authority makes sure that only safe products are available to consumers. He also cooperates with the National Revenue Administration, which discloses and detains at the border any dangerous and/or non-compliant goods. – Until the end of Q3 2022, NRA officers have prevented ca. 40 million items of goods from being marketed - Head of the National Revenue Administration, lieutenant Bartosz Zbaraszczuk, emphasises.

- The child’s imagination is unlimited, as are their ideas for playing. Therefore, when choosing gifts - especially for the youngest ones - we should be cautious and choose toys whose quality we can be sure of - Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, explains. - We want the toys that Santa brings to the little ones to be safe, so we verify them together with the Customs and Fiscal Service, even before they enter the Polish market. This year, more than half of the models was non-compliant. I encourage you to read the detailed inspection results – the President of UOKiK adds.

We have checked 41 models of toys, which accounts for over 34.4 thousand products. We found irregularities in more than half of the models.

What kind of toys we have checked:

• slime-type - which are viscous and stretchy substances,
• sound toys – i.e. guitars, bells, pianos, bells and squeaky toys,
• bullet toys – i.e. pistols for foam cartridges, small pistols and crossbows.

The most common non-compliances in the inspected toys:

• incorrect documentation,
• exceeded safe amounts of boron - (the chemical responsible for the viscosity in slime toys),
• were too loud (permissible noise level is 110 decibels),
• defective design (sharp edges and small elements that can be swallowed by kids).

More than 80% of slime toys tested were toxic. We detected exceeded boron levels - in one model by up to six times. Exceeding the safe dose of this chemical may cause nausea and vomiting, muscle spasms, agitation and, in extreme cases, nervous system disorders.

Download the full inspection results and see which products we have questioned.

We carry out regular inspections of toys. See the results of our previous inspection.

Second - reasonable purchases

In the run-up to Christmas, we face the difficult dilemma of deciding what gift will make our loved one happy. Often, looking for a safe solution, we decide to purchase a gift card. Consider for whom you buy the card and read the rules carefully. Check how to use the card:

•        what is its expiry date,

•        what can you buy with it,

•        is it one-off or multiple use,

•        whether it can be used in-store or online,

•        is it dedicated to only one retailer or to several ones,

•        do you need to register it before doing shopping.

Remember: the expiry date is determined by the seller. This information must be clear, explicit and understandable. Some cards can only be used in-store, others – online only. Not everyone will be able to use a voucher that enables online-only purchases - please consider this.

Third – your rights

• When you place orders online - the product can be returned within 14 days from the purchase. You must have proof of purchase, e.g. transaction confirmation or electronic invoice. Inform the seller and return the goods in accordance with their instructions.

NOTE! There are exceptions to this rule – products that you cannot return. These include, among other things, personalised items. By choosing a t-shirt with your photograph or jewellery with initials - make sure they are in the recipient’s size.

- We encourage reasonable purchases. Let’s buy as much as we really need and make informed choices. The mere fact of gifting your loved ones will certainly make them happy, but let’s think about what will be most useful to them. Failed gifts will only strain the environment, and those that are personalised - cannot be returned – President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, says.

• When you buy in a brick and mortar store - make sure before purchasing that the store allows you to withdraw from the contract, and if so, under what conditions. Returning a product depends on the seller’s goodwill - they set the rules. For instance, they may only offer an exchange or refund for a gift card.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone: 22 55 60 246
Email: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL
You can also follow us on Instagram: @uokikgovpl