Age Grading For Toys Gains Global Acceptance

For many years, the toy industry and its regulators have tried to align standards such as CEN 71 and ASTM F963 into ISO 8124 – a global standard for many aspects of toy safety. And now there’s been a partial breakthrough.

Although not completely successful yet, ISO 8124 Part 8: Age Determination Guidelines1 has harmonized these standards. It will now act as a baseline from which to focus efforts on applying correct safety requirements.

SGS has been integral to this process of harmonization: our toy expert Sanda Stefanovic has played an active role for the EU by leading the CEN committee through the alignment and adoption process.

Published on February 1, 2016, ISO/TR 8124-8:2016 is a Technical Report aimed at manufacturers and those agencies that evaluate toys for compliance with safety guidelines and standards. As an internationally acceptable and consistent guideline that can be applied in all markets, it will help these parties to determine the lowest age at which children may be expected to start playing with toys in specific sub-categories of product.

ISO/TR 8124-8:2016 provides guideline age ranges, during which a typical child develops certain skills and abilities. Children’s skills and abilities define the risks children may be exposed to and are essential, therefore, to setting safety requirements for toys.

Requirements for Safety
After identifying the appropriate age grade using ISO/TR 8124-8:2016, or other guidance, ISO 8124 can be used to define the specific safety requirements of a toy.

ISO 8124 is an eight-part series of safety standards, and parts 1 to 7 deal with specific aspects and details of product safety, including:

• Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties
• Part 2: Flammability
• Part 3: Migration of certain elements
• Part 4: Swings, slides and similar activity toys for indoor and outdoor family domestic use
• Part 5: Determination of total concentration of certain elements in toys
• Part 6: Certain phthalate esters in toys and children's products
• Part 7: Requirements and test methods for finger paints
• Part 8: Age determination guidelines

ISO 8124-8:2014 is now obsolete
ISO/TR 8124-8: 2016 supersedes the first edition (ISO/TR 8124-8:2014), includes a number of technical revisions, and marks the point at which CEN 71 and ASTM F963 are harmonized within the same document.

International Standardization Organization (ISO) committee ISO/TC181, Safety of Toys, which was drawn from member bodies and informed by international governmental and non-governmental organizations, conducted the review and completed the update.

How SGS can help
SGS has an extensive network of toy testing laboratories and experts. Our age grading evaluation services guide you through the maze of legislation. This ensures that products not only meet regulatory requirements but also broader standards of age-appropriate safety and usability.

A toy assessment can include a product review and advice on whether the grading is appropriate. We can also advise on the correct age grading for new products, or products in development, as well as provide consultancy on how to meet regulatory requirements.

In addition, our network can deliver all the necessary testing to demonstrate full compliance to EU, US and global toy requirements.

For further information, please contact:

Christophe Boisnard
Toy Expert
Consumer and Retail
SGS France
t: +33 4 42 61 64 51
email: cts.media@sgs.com

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 85,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.