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BRIO was a founding member of the first European Toy Association, formed in 1958 in Brussels, bringing together both toy producers and toy retailers in Europe. In the beginning of 1990s the organization split up into two entities, TME (Toy Manufacturers of Europe which later on changed to TIE- Toy Industry Europe) and TTE (Toy Traders of Europe). Dag Ivarsson from BRIO served as chairman of TTE from 1998 until 2006. In 2012 BRIO became a full member of TIE with Göran Kullberg as BRIO’s representative.
BRIO has been actively involved in the development of the Toy standard through the work of one of BRIO’s employees, Gunnar Castegren. As far back as 1972, when the Swedish Consumer Agency was established, Gunnar initiated toy safety consultations with this newly-formed authority. A new Swedish standard “Toys –Mechanical and Physical Properties” was published in 1983.
In the middle of the 80s, EU started its work with the first toy safety directive and Gunnar Castegren was appointed as one of the Swedish representatives in its working group. Throughout the years until his retirement in 2004 Gunnar served as BRIO’s toy safety ambassador as well as the chairman, leading the work with new toy safety directives and standards within EU. In 1988 Gunnar was appointed as the Swedish representative in ICTI (International Council Toy Industries), an organization responsible for the ICTI care process concerning working conditions.
In Sweden, BRIO has participated in a voluntary initiative together with other toy producers such as LEGO, Micki, Egmont, IKEA, Clas Ohlsson and ICA to examine how chemicals in toys can phase out to a greater degree than required by law. The initiative “Giftfri vardag” is initiated by Sweden’s Environmental Minister and organised by the Swedish Chemicals Agency, starting in 2011 and continuing until 2014. The intention is for the experiences from these efforts to be shared with other businesses, authorities, and trade associations.