Keeping kids free from harm is the effect of standards for toy safety. ISO has just updated a toy safety standard to ensure it covers all bases. Made for play, children’s toys are rife with potential hidden hazards ranging from sharp edges to cords or small parts, to name a few. The humble plaything can cause great harm if not designed and manufactured correctly. A new version of ISO’s most well-known toy safety standard has just been published to ensure it keeps safety up to scratch in our ever-changing world. Read more here
Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) representative Matthew Tung is a member of the Standards Australia Technical Committee CS-018 Safety of toys which participated in the preparation of the ISO standard, putting forward the Australian position. Participation in the global market requires compliance with International Standards. Wherever possible, Standards Australia will adopt International Standards and if there are no existing or relevant international or regional standards, national standards may be developed.
The World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT) requires members use international standards (or the relevant parts of them) as a basis for their technical regulations, where they can. WTO TBT also requires that members use international standards as a basis for national standard development wherever appropriate. Read more here.
CFA nominates representatives to Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project. Consumers can influence standards by becoming a Consumers’ Federation of Australia representative on a Standards Australia Technical Committee, making public comment on draft standards and suggesting new standards. If you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinator at standards@consumeraction.org.au