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May 2023 - New European Regulation on general product safety published

REGULATION (EU) 2023/988 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 10 May 2023 on general product safety was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the 23 May 2023.  The Regulation enters into force on the twentieth day following this publication date and a transition period extends until the regulation formally applies from 13 December 2024.

Products covered by Directive 2001/95/EC which are in conformity with that Directive may still be placed on the market until 12 December 2024. 

 

April 2023 - EN 14682 Revised and Updated

BS EN 14682:2014 Safety of children's clothing - Cords and drawstrings on children's clothing - Specifications is being revised and updated.  The current standard is "designated" in the UK and "harmonised" in the EU, this means that garments which meet the design requirements are presumed to be safe for cords and drawstrings under the UK General Product Safety Regulations and the EU General Product Safety Directive.  It is anticipated that the revised standard will be Designated and Harmonised in due course. 

The changes include:  

Readers in the UK are invited to Click on the link below and register to read the new draft version and submit any comments and suggestions:  

Link to BSI Website: https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2021-02403#/section. 

Readers in the EU should also be able to read the draft document but should submit their comments to their National Standards Body. 

All UK comments are reviewed by the UK committee, BSI TCI 66/-/2 before submission to the European standards group, CEN TC 248 WG 20.   EVERY comment has to be considered, and accepted or rejected with rationale by the committee. 

Please send in your comments by 6th June 2023.  

 

January 2023 - Update on Safe Product Best Practice

Over 2022 the UK government published three documents relating to product safety assurance best practice.  Published through the BSI (British Standards Institution) as Publicly Available Standards (PAS) - rather than formal standards - they are free to download from BSI Online.  

PAS 7050:2022 Bringing safe products to the market – Code of practice:

The PAS is in two parts:  

This document summaries the best practices to be followed when introducing a product to market. It defines and explains the roles and responsibilities of:  

It also considers product marking and labelling, technical documentation and safety assessment which should be actioned before or during product placing on the market. Recommendations also consider sale of second-hand product.  

Published March 2022. Free to view or download – simply register  

See https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/pas-7050-bringing-safe-products-to-the-market-code-of-practice/standard  

PAS 7100:2022 Product recall and other corrective actions. Code of practice

Again in two parts:  

This document provides a summary of best practice to be followed if a product is found to be defective and or likely to cause harm, and so not compliant the essential safety requirements of the relevant UK legislation. 

It is recommended that each business has their own action plan to be able to assess if their consumers are experiencing issues – a safety complaint record- and written plan of how to assess and react in the event a serious issued. 

Published March 2022. Free to view or download- simply register

See https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/product-recall-and-other-corrective-actions-code-of-practice/standard  

PAS 7055:2021 Button and coin batteries. Safety requirements. Specification

This explains the hazards of button cell and coin cell batteries in all kinds of products (not just toys), It provides specifications of best practice for products which contain battery compartments to ensure coin and button cell batteries are secure and cannot accidentally be released to be available for accidental ingestion.

Published April 2021 . Free to view or download- simply register

See https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/button-and-coin-batteries-safety-requirements-specification/standard  

 

December 2022 - Standards News

PD CEN/ TS 17553:2022 Textiles and Textile products - Community face coverings was published in November 2022.

This new European document is adopted by BSI . It provides design and performance requirements for single use and re-useable face coverings for general use. 

Face coverings should not be confused with protective equipment, PPE . Face coverings are not deigned to protect the wearer, they are designed to reduce infections such as SARs-CoV-2 pandemic (covid) or flu by filtering exhaled air from nose or mouth . If an infect person wears one over the mouth and nose and closely fitting to the face, this will significantly reduce the spread of the infection. 

The standard provides information on design criteria, performance for ease of breathing and also filtration of viruses, durability with supporting test methods , and recommended cleaning requirements to ensure hygienic cleaning between wears. In addition recommended instruction for how to choose the right face covering , how to wear ,are provided. Warnings are also provided, for some people, wearing of a face covering might have serious medical implications.  

BS EN ISO 19410-1:2022 Footwear sizing. In-shoe measurement. Shoe length

New standard specifying a method to measure the effective shoe length to accommodate a foot.  The standard is not relevant for open heel or open toe shoes.  

BS ISO 9867:2022 Textiles — Evaluation of the wrinkle recovery of fabrics — Appearance method.

The standard has been updated and replaces the 2009 edition.

 

August 2022 - Standards News

BS EN 17667:2022 Test method. Determination of thermal resistance of filled textile articles and similar items using small guarded hotplate apparatus:

was published August 2022.   It is expected that this new standard test method will replace the current method of assessing thermal resistance in "BS EN 16781 Textile child care articles - Safety requirements and test methods for children's sleep bags for use in a cot, specification for sleep bags" and "BS EN 16779-1 Textile child care articles. Safety requirements and test methods for children's cot duvets. Part 1. Duvet (excluding duvet covers)" [note this includes quilts without removeable covers] when these are revised.  

BS EN 17667 is the formalisation of the modified ISO 5058-1 method described in BS EN 16781 . It has been refined and updated to improve reliability. 

Revision of BS EN 16781 is in progress.  Many topics are common with "BS EN 16780 Textile child care articles. Safety requirements and test methods for children's cot bumpers" and BS EN 16779-1.  In due course all will be upgraded to the most recent publication. 

Other recent publications:

BS EN ISO 12312-1:2022 Eye and face protection - Sunglasses and related eyewear - Part 1: Sunglasses for general use (ISO 12312-1:2022) 

BS EN 17651:2022 Leather - Description, labelling and marking of leather goods 

BS EN 13336:2022 Leather - Upholstery leather characteristics - Guide for selection of leather for furniture 

BS EN 16223-1:2022 Leather - Requirements for the designation and description of leather in upholstery and automotive interior applications - Part 1: Upholstery applications 

 

August 2022 - Toy Standards to be Designated

A designated standard is a standard, developed by consensus, which is recognised by government in part or in full as supporting CA Marking Regulations by publishing its reference on GOV.UK in a formal notice of publication. 

BEIS OPSS have issued proposals to designate the following Standards in support of the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/1881) : 

These Standards are scheduled to be designated on 1 September 2022.  

 

January 2021 - New standards published

Four test method documents for security of attachment of components on children's clothing are now published: 

CEN/TS 17394-1:2021 Textiles and textile products – Safety of children's clothing – Security of attachment of attached components to Infants' clothing – Specification.

CEN/TS 17394-3:2021, Safety of Children's Clothing - Security of Attachment of metal mechanically applied press fasteners - Test method.

CEN/TS 17394-4:2021 Safety of Children's clothing – Security of attachment of components except buttons and metal mechanically applied fasteners – Test method.

EN 17394-2 :2021 Textiles and textile products. Part 2: Safety of children's clothing - Security of attachment of buttons - Test method.

Part 1 provides performance requirements with the test methods in parts 2,3 and 4. All four parts are based on the recommendations and methods described in CEN /TR 16792:2014 and updated. This itself was also an upgrade from BS 7907:2007, which was withdrawn.  

Three of these documents are "TS", Technical Specifications, this is a kind of standard where further work is considered necessary to assure repeatability or reproducibility. In this case while UK experts were wholly confident that the test methods were acceptable, other CEN experts were not so sure. Inter-laboratory trials to verify the test methods are planned, but have been delayed due to Covid-19, and will progress as soon as practical. Since two supporting test methods are TS this meant the performance specification also had to be TS. Revision of "CEN/TR 16792:2014 Safety of children’s clothing – recommendations for the design and manufacture of children’s clothing – mechanical safety", is in progress as a result of the publication of the 17394 series. CEN TS 17394-1 and CEN /TR 16792 are both essential documents for children's clothing brands, and useful references for adult clothing brands.  

 

January 2021 - Face Coverings standards development

CEN has begun work on upgrading the CWA 17553:2020 ‘Community face coverings - Guide to minimum requirements, methods of testing and use' for Community Face Coverings, which is to become a CEN/TS document and is due for publication towards the end of 2021. 

To read the CWA see https://www.cencenelec.eu/news/press_releases/Pages/PR-2020-004.aspx  

In parallel BSI is developing a Flex standard Flex 5555.   This is currently available for public comment.  For more information, or to submit your comments see https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/topics/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/community-face-coverings;   you will need to register.