Representatives of national toy trade associations from around the world convened in Sydney, Australia last month for the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) 43rd Annual General Meeting.
Hosted by the Australian Toy Association (ATA), the June 11-13 meeting explored issues currently affecting the worldwide toy industry – including the future trends of toys, the value of play, social responsibility, and standards and regulatory issues.
Toy reps from around the world convened in Sydney, Australia last month for the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) 43rd Annual General Meeting.
Each participating country shared a State of the Industry Report during the proceedings. The U.S. Toy Association’s State of the Industry Report addresses key issues that impacted the North American toy industry in 2016 and covers toy safety; environmental issues; marketing to children; intellectual property rights; toy fairs; initiatives promoting the value of play; and other information. The report also identifies chemical regulation, taxes and trade as top issues affecting the U.S. toy industry last year.
The meeting included a presentation on the global toy market, delivered by Frederique Tutt of The NPD Group, as well as a presentation updating members on international standards harmonization, delivered by LEGO’s Christian Wetterberg, chairman of the International Standards Organization (ISO) technical committee on toy safety. A special report on ICTI CARE, the toy industry’s ethical manufacturing program, was presented by Carmel Giblin, president and CEO of the ICTI CARE Foundation.
On the last day of the meeting, the following officers were elected to serve on the ICTI Board of Directors:
Vice president/Americas: Miguel Angel Martin of the Mexico Toy Association
Vice president/Asia: David Hendy of the Australian Toy Association
Vice President/Europe: Michel Moggio of the France Toy Association
May Lang of the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association serves at ICTI President for a three-year term ending at the 2018 Annual General Meeting.
The United States will host the next ICTI Annual General Meeting in Nashville, TN from June 17 to 20, 2018.
