The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) seeks comments on a proposed new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committee (TC) on child care articles. As the U.S. member body to ISO, ANSI requests that all interested U.S. parties review the proposal and submit comments by June 5, 2020.
AFNOR, the French national standards body to ISO, submitted the proposal, which describes the following scope statement: "Standardization of horizontal requirements of any product designed or obviously intended to safely ensure and facilitate seating, bathing, changing and general body care, feeding, sleeping, transportation and protection for young children. Standardization of all products related to child care for which no other Technical Committee exists. The main focus is products intended for children up to 4 years old."
Further, the proposal indicates that the ISO/TC would function to:
1. Provide minimum safety requirements for children where no standard currently exists
2. Establish safety requirements and test methods to increase the safety of young children, i.e. up to four years old, based on already existing national and regional standards where feasible
3. Foster the provision to consumers of consistent information, for instance instructions for use
4. Promote consistency and safety in the design, use, testing and terms used when dealing with risk for child care articles
5. Ensure coherence with the standard already developed by existing TCs: ISO/TC 22 on Road vehicles, ISO/TC 38 on Textiles, ISO/TC 136 on Furniture, ISO/TC 149 on Cycles, ISO/TC 181 on Safety of toys, and IEC/TC 61 on Safety of household and similar electrical appliances
Please review the proposal and submit comments to Steve Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy, at [email protected], by close of business on June 5, 2020.
Based on the input received from U.S. stakeholders, a recommended ANSI position and any comments will be developed and presented to the ANSI ISO Committee (AIC) for approval before ISO's voting deadline of July 14, 2020.
ANSI has published an explanatory information document outlining the process used to develop U.S. positions on issues and activities under consideration by ISO and IEC.