The EC Joint Research Centre (JCR) co-ordinated the validation of 2 methodologies to test the migration of certain plasticisers in toys in more than 15 laboratories in both the EU and USA. The methods were tested with diisononylphthalate (DINP), the phthalate commonly used in toys, a standard PVC and a variety of toys of different manufacturing processes. The “head over heels” method exhibited the best reproducibility and could be validated with the appropriate number of laboratories.