EU – EN 71-1:2011+A3:2014 – Mechanical and Physical Properties of Toys Published
Vol. 755 | March 20, 2014
From 1 October 2014, two newly published amendments to EN 71-1, the European safety standard for the mechanical and physical properties of toys, will take effect. The main changes are as follows:
- Paper and paperboard
- Paper has been re-defined, but is still based on a mass per unit area of 400 g/m² or less.
- Paperboard is newly defined to include card, cardboard and similar cellulose fibre materials with a mass per unit area greater than 400 g/m².
- Please note this term was previously used, along with paper, to describe those materials below the 400 g/m² threshold.
- 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.
- Paperboard toys and parts of toys:
- 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.
- Warnings – Legibility and visibility
- Printed warnings shall consider new good practice criteria; based on the consumer products information guidelines in ISO/IEC Guide 37 and CEN/CENELEC Guide 11.
- Key points, to ensure that warnings are clearly legible and visible, include:
- Prominent location so that the warning(s) can be readily seen by the user.
- Text colour with a good contrast to a single, or at most lightly patterned, background.
- Simple font in an easy-to-read size (although no minimum font is specified).
- No high gloss surfaces or transparent backgrounds, which can be too distracting and obscure the text.
- Avoid using too much text; as large blocks of text are less likely to be read.
- Keep warnings separate from other information; to provide emphasis and avoid confusion.
- Clearly indicate and separate different languages.
- Magnets – Gauss meter
- The specification has been corrected to include a broader range of Gauss meters on the market that are suitable for testing the magnetic flux index of magnets in toys.
EN 71-1:2011+A3:2014 should be published by each of the CEN national standards bodies by the end of September, with a reference expected to appear shortly in the EU Official Journal.
For further
information, please contact:
consumergoods.uk@intertek.com
Tel: +44 (0) 116 296 1620