ISO Explores New Safety Standards

Playthings Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 11/8/2012 10:06:41 AM

TOKYO - The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee on Toy Safety recently held meetings to work on advancing several items under the ISO toy safety standard ISO 8124, according to a report by the Toy Industry Association (TIA).

The meetings, held in Tokyo, brought together a group of technical experts from the U.S., including representatives from toy manufacturers/importers, testing labs and the TIA were in attendance, in addition to representatives of industry and product safety agencies from more than a dozen other countries, including Canada, Australia, the EU and Brazil, according to the TIA. Some notable areas of focus included the development of global age determination guidelines for toys (based largely on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) extensive guidelines from 2002) as well as discussions on magnets, cords, impaction, phthalates, total concentration of certain elements, and the alignment of toy standards in general.

Members of the TIA will be notified when a detailed report from the U.S. delegation present at the meetings is available for viewing on the TIA website.