Standards Australia has released four Australian/New Zealand standards on Safety of toys available for public comment until the 14 December 2015.
The objective of theses standards is to provide specifications for:
- general safety, construction and labelling requirements of toys
- flammability requirements for toys, and flammability labelling requirements for certain materials used in or on toys
- migration of certain elements
- swings, slides and similar activity toys for indoor and outdoor family domestic use
The Standards are an adoption of ISO standards with national modifications to take account of Australian/New Zealand conditions.
An important stage in the development of an Australian Standard is the Public Comment period. Anyone who feels they have something to contribute to a Draft Standard should use the Public Comment Period to provide their view on its provisions. All comments are considered in detail by the relevant Committee and, if necessary, further drafting is undertaken. Individual feedback will not be given by the Committee on the comments provided.
Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) has a representative on the Standards Australia Technical Committee CS-018 Safety of children’s toys which has revised the standards in preparation for public comment and adoption in Australia.
Product Safety Australia has a number of mandatory standards on children’s toys to make particular safety or information features compulsory for legal supply of the product into the Australian market – such as Toys for children up to and including 36 months of age
CFA provides volunteer representatives on Standards Australia Technical Committees as part of the CFA Standards Project; if you are interested in finding out more about the Project and/or becoming a volunteer CFA Standards Representative please contact the Standards Coordinator standards@consumeraction.org.au