NEWS

Official Journal of the European Union published EN 71 new harmonized standards for 2009/48/EC

EN71-1:2011+A3:2014 and EN71-2:2011+A1:2014 have been approved to be harmonized in the EU Official Journal on June 13, 2014. These new toy safety standards will come into force on Sep 30, 2014. From then on, it will modify the European Standard EN 71-1:2011+A2:2013 and EN71-2:2011.

Mainly Change of EN 71-1:2011+A3:2014
1.Paper and paperboard definition update
    a.Paper has been re-defined, but is still based on a mass per unit area of 400 g/m² or less.
    b.Paperboard is newly defined to include card, cardboard and similar cellulose fibre materials with a mass per unit area greater than 400 g/m².

2.Small part requirement update
●Toys intended for children under 36 months of age – Small parts
  ☆Paperboard toys and parts of toys:
    ＊ Shall not be small parts as received.
    ＊ Shall not detach as small parts under a new 25 N tension test.
    ＊ Are not subjected to the other abuse tests (e.g. torque, 50 N/90N tension, drop, impact, compression, and soaking tests).
  ☆Felt, elasticized fabrics and elasticized threads are now included with “fabric,” and so will not be treated as small parts.

3.Packaging requirement update
●Packaging – Plastic bags
Packaging polybags with an opening perimeter of 380 mm or less will also be required to have a mean thickness of at least 0.038 mm, but only if the uncut bag has an area of at least 100 mm x 100 mm.

4.Visibility and legibility of warnings
In order to improve the visibility and legibility of warnings, good practice guidance is provided in the revised standard.
Following is a summary of the new guidance:
    1) Emphasise the warning: e.g. by placing them in a prominent position
    2) Contrast, background and colours: e.g. using sharp colour contrast and avoiding strong background patterns in the location of the warning
    3) Reflecting surfaces and obscuring material: e.g. avoiding highly reflecting surfaces.
    4) Font type: by using perferred sans-serif font types
    5) Font size: no recommendation is given for minimum lettering size. However, the revised standard recommends the use of larger font sizes where possible to improve visibility and legibility
    6) Logical direction of text: by considering logical lay-out directions

Mainly Change of EN 71-2:2011+A1:2014
1.Clause 4.1 General requirements - to allow highly flammable liquids in olfactory board games, cosmetic kits and gustative games (as well as in chemical toys).
2.Clause 5.5.3 Test method for soft-filled toys - clarify the exact location of the test flame of soft-filled toys flammability test. This will affect very few toys and is not a significant change.

For more harmonised standards of directive 2009/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of toys. Please check:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/harmonised-standards/toys/index_en.ht