AUS/120
WTO/TBT
AU Australia
  • 95 - Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof
2020-07-17
2020-05-19

Children's toys containing magnets – being children's toys that are products designed or clearly intended for use in play by children under the age of 14 years. This review addresses the risk of children ingesting small high-powered magnets which may be present in a range of children's toys, including magnetic building sets, scientific sets and toy train sets, for the purpose of functionality. Note: This review applies only to children's toys containing magnets and applies to toys that contain magnets as a component of the product. There is also a separate ban on small high-powered magnets in Australia, this ban applies to products that are entirely and only small high-powered magnets.

Review of the mandatory safety standards for children's toys – Consultation paper (29 page(s), in English)

The ACCC is proposing to update the mandatory safety standard for children's toys containing magnets to allow suppliers to comply with any of the following widely-adopted voluntary standards:

·         International Standard (ISO 8124-1:2018 - Safety of toys – Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties)

·         European Standard (EN 71-1:2014+A1:2018 - Safety of toys – Part 1: Mechanical and physical properties)

·         American Standard (ASTM F963 – 17 - Standard consumer safety specification for toy safety)

·         Australian/New Zealand Standard (AS/NZS ISO 8124.1:2019 – Safety of toys Part 1: Safety aspects related to mechanical and physical properties, which is a domestic adoption of the International Standard).

The proposed safety standard would not impose any requirements other than those contained in these standards. Allowing compliance with these standards would reduce the current regulatory complexity and duplication for suppliers, thereby reducing technical barriers to trade.

While these standards have comparable requirements to the current mandatory safety standard, they intend to reduce the consumer hazard by limiting the scope of toys that are permitted to be supplied with 'loose as-received' small high-powered magnets.

The attached consultation paper outlines our preliminary consideration of the hazards and policy approaches for five children's toys standards, including the mandatory safety standard for children's toys containing magnets.

Please contact switec@snv.ch