April 2020

In February 2012, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a consumer product safety standard for portable bed rails. On February 25th, the CPSC published this direct final rule revising the CPSC’s mandatory standard for portable bed rails by incorporating ASTM F2085-19. The new rule will become effective on May 20, 2020.

ASTM F2085-19, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Portable Bed Rails, applies to portable bed rails intended to be installed on an adult bed to prevent children from falling out of bed. These bed rails are intended for children who can get in and out of an adult bed unassisted (typically children from 2 to 5 years of age). The standard is codified in the Commission’s regulations at 16 CFR part 1224 as the mandatory standard.

ASTM F2085-19 includes the revisions noted below:

1. Non-substantive changes

   • Two of the footnotes that were in section 7, which provide explanatory information, such as how to measure thickness and the definition of the “indentation load”, have been moved to the Notes section within the text of the regulation. Notes and footnotes are both considered to be nonmandatory text and for information only.

   • Changes to unit expressions to bring the standard in accordance with the ASTM form and style guidelines.

2. Substantive change

   This change relates to the fiber content of the mattress cover, which used to be a 50/50 cotton/polyester blend and will be a 60/40 cotton/polyester blend.

The CPSC concluded that this change is neutral regarding safety while increasing the ease of sourcing the test materials.

In December 2015, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a consumer product safety standard for Children’s Chairs and Stools. The standard incorporated by reference the applicable ASTM voluntary standard. On April 1, 2020, the CPSC published a direct final rule revising the CPSC’s mandatory standard for Children’s Chairs and Stools to incorporate to ASTM F2613-19 with an effective date on July 6, 2020.

ASTM F2613-19, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Children’s Chairs and Stools, applies to chairs and stools intended to be used by a single child who can get in and get out of the product unassisted. The chair or stool would have a seat height of 15 in. or less, and would be with or without a rocking base. The standard was codified in the Commission’s regulations at 16 CFR part 1232. This rule is incorporating ASTM F2613-19 as the mandatory standard.

ASTM F2613-19 includes the revisions below:

Non-substantive changes

• Several changes were minor and editorial and do not affect the safety of children’s folding chairs and stools.

• Section 5.7 and 5.8 removed duplicative language such as “when folded” and “when being folded”, and clarified words to add “comply with” instead of “meet”.

• The Latching and Locking Mechanisms section under section 5.8.1 were restructured to improve clarity and organization.

• All of the non-substantive changes made in ASTM F2613-19 are neutral regarding safety and do not affect the safety of children’s folding chairs and stools.

Substantive change

In January 2020, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a new Age Determination Guidelines to supersede the 2002 version.

Updates to the Age Determination Guidelines are divided into 4 main parts.

1. Scope is Expanded Beyond Children’s toys

2. Reorganization of the Guidelines

• Split the Introduction into 3 segments: Introduction, Background, and User Guide

• Technology Play category formed from existing subcategories

• Age groups added

  • 3-5 years for Mirrors, Mobiles & Manipulatives

  • 12-18 and 19-23 months for Sports Equipment

• Subcategories renamed to Building Play and Learning Products

3. Updates to Children’s Basic Abilities

• Incorporated latest research on children’s typical development

• Removed product references to focus on childhood development

• Replaced "infant" & "toddler" with "children"

4. Products Addressed in the Guidelines

• Examples of Products Added:

  • Gear toys

  • Foam clay

  • Bubble Blasters

  • Suction cup building sets

  • Wooden blocks with internal magnet connectors

• Qualitative information added to studied products

Starting as of June 1, 2020, the CPSC staff will begin using the 2020 Age Determination Guidelines.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) published ASTM F2923-20, Standard Specification for Consumer Product Safety for Children’s Jewelry in March of 2020. This new version reduces the screening limit for total cadmium and adopts new phthalates requirements. The other changes to the standard are mainly editorial changes.

Compared to the previous standard, ASTM F2923-14, the significant updates include:

• Reduced total cadmium screening limit: From 300 ppm to 75 ppm, which is aligned with ASTM F963

• New phthalates requirement: Adopted the 8 phthalates requirement from 16 CFR 1307 for plasticized materials while also keeping the exemption for specific plastics listed in 16 CFR 1308

On February 18, 2020, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) to amend the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (16 CFR 303). The change will incorporate by reference the latest ISO 2076 standard: ISO 2076:2013(E), “Textiles—Man-made fibres—Generic names.”

According to the section 303.7 of the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, the generic names for manufactured fibers must be used in the required fiber content disclosures by:

1. 1. Referencing the generic names and definitions set forth in the ISO 2076 standard (current ISO 2076-2010(E) standard is incorporated by reference)

2. 2. Following the list of the generic names and definitions the FTC has established through its textile petition process

The proposed amendment to incorporate by reference the ISO 2076:2013(E) and seven additional manufactured fibers will be applied (see the list below). These were added to the ISO standard in the revision from 2010 to 2013:

1. “chitin,”

2. “ceramic,”

3. “polybenzimidazol,”

4. “polycarbamide,”

5. “polypropylene/polyamide bicomponent,”

6. “protein,” and

7. “trivinyl.”

This incorporation by reference will promote international consensus along with providing manufacturers selling textile products in multiple countries with more flexibility in the labeling of their textile products.

On February 28, 2020, The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) announced a regulatory proposal to list Carpets and Rugs Containing Perfluoroalkyl or Polyfluoroalkyl Substances as Priority Products.

The DTSC is proposing this regulation because they have identified carpets and rugs as major sources of human and ecological exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). All PFASs have at least one hazard trait (meaning it can harm people or the environment) as defined under the Safer Consumer Products regulation.

PFASs associated with carpets and rugs have the potential to cause significant and widespread adverse impacts to sensitive subpopulations, including fetuses, infants, young children, pregnant women, carpet installers, carpet recyclers, carpet cleaners, and carpet retail sector workers. These chemicals are also harmful to environmentally-sensitive habitats, and can threaten endangered species. Given the known hazard traits, replacing currently-used PFASs in carpets and rugs with other members of the PFAS class could be equally problematic.

The proposal is now under public comment period until April 13, 2020.

On January 27, 2020, the US State of Maryland passed Senate bill SB 447 to amend the State’s Restriction of Flame Retardants Rule for Children's Products and Furniture.

The proposed bill intends to expand the restriction of flame retardants from TCEP and TDCPP to include all general flame retardants.

Flame retardants, according to the proposed bill, are defined as chemicals which:

(i) are used to resist or inhibit the spread of fire or act as a synergist to chemicals that resist or inhibit the spread of fire, including any chemical for which the term “flame retardant” appears on a safety data sheet

And

(ii) fulfil any one of the following chemical properties

1. Contains one or more halogen elements, including fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine;

2. Contains one or more carbon elements and one or more phosphorus elements;

3. Contains one or more carbon elements and one or more nitrogen elements; or

4. Is a nanoscale chemical.

If the proposed bill is enacted, the import, sale, or offer for sale of any juvenile product, mattress, upholstered furniture, or reupholstered furniture that contains more than 0.1% of a flame–retardant chemical by mass will be prohibited after October 1, 2020.

In February of 2020, the European Committee For Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) published a new version of the EU standard for electric toys, EN IEC 62115:2020+A11:2020. The new version of the EN standard aims to achieve worldwide harmonization to IEC 62115:2017.

Highlights of the key changes between EN62115:2005+A12:2015 and EN62115:2020+A11:2020 are as below:

• New requirements

  • Safety of remote controls supplied with electrical ride-on toys

  • Instructions for electrical toys to be connected to class 1 equipment

  • Safety of USB connection as power source

  • New testing and warning requirements for button and coin batteries

• Amended requirements

  • Reduce the requirement for impact resistance from 0.7J to 0.5J

  • Assessment of LEDs is amended by using LED technical data sheet

It is expected EN IEC 62115:2020+A11:2020 will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) as a harmonized standard to the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC.

On February 25, 2020, the India Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 was published. It shall come into force as of September 1, 2020.

The Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 contains several important provisions:

• Will apply to Toys that are designed or clearly intended for use in play by children under 14 years of age;

• Conform to the latest versions of Indian Standards including amendments as shown in Table 1;

• Bear the Standard Mark under a license from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), as per Scheme-I of Schedule-II of BIS (Conformity Assessments) Regulations, 2018;

• Directs the BIS to be the certifying and enforcement authority

Table 1

* The latest version in the Bureau of Indian Standards is IS 9873 : Part 1 : 2019 and IS 15644 : 2006 (Reaffirmed Year : 2016).

In China, when hazards are identified in consumer products, they will be recalled and published, and this information is updated daily. The China recalls from July 20191, to February 29, 2020 are summarized below.

^Other Categories include Candles & Burning Items, Car Seat, Chemicals, Furniture, Homeware (Non-food Contact), Jewelry, Watches or other Fashion Accessories, Stationery with a frequency of less than 11.

^Other Provinces include Hangzhou, Henan, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Shenzhen, Sichuan, Wuhan and Zhejiang with a frequency of less than 8.

For a complete list click here.

ISO 8124-3:2020 was published in March of 2020. It is the latest standard for determining the migration of 8 elements from toys. This new standard included several changes to the previous versions. It cancels and replaces ISO 8124-3:2010 and incorporates Amendments ISO 8124-3:2010/Amd.1:2014 and ISO 8124-3:2010/Amd.2:2018.

As the latest toy safety standard in the ISO 8124 series, below are the significant changes:

• Defined the classification criteria of paper (mass per unit area of 400 g/m2 or less) and paper board (mass per unit area over 400 g/m2, excluding pressed wooden fiberboards) based on the definition in ISO 8124-1:2018

• Introduced two detailed dewaxing methods to replace the original one

• Introduced new Annex C to lay down the detailed methods for analysis of the 8 elements by ICP-OES