Modern European toy safety standards were discussed in the early 1980s and were formalized with Directive 88/378/EEC in 1988. This directive was replaced by Directive 2009/48/EC and includes the safety standards commonly know as EN-71. The 2009 Directive has received numerous updates, most recently in November of 2015. These updates address new developments in toy design as well as restricting heavy metals and other chemicals.
Also in the 1980s, the US was drafting toy safety standards at the National Bureau of Standards. These standards became included in the first version of ASTM-F963, a voluntary standard. The federal government passed the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) in 1972 which established the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC.) The CPSA supported the development of voluntary standards like ASTM-F963. In 2008 the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) made ASTM-F963 a mandatory standard.