- The Consumer Council (CC) supports adopting updated international safety standards for various children’s products so that the local safety requirements will be in line with international standards that are adopted by major economies.
- CC notes that the proposed updates are applicable to children’s products including toys, babies’ dummies, baby walking frames, bottle teats, bunk beds, carry cots, children’s paints and wheeled child conveyances in which the updated international standards would strengthen the requirements and enhance the safety of these products and to keep up with international development.
- For children’s products, CC notes that the European standard BS EN 747-1:2024 and BS EN 747-2:2024 have revised the scope of bunk beds and had introduced new mechanical requirements for bed base, safety barriers around upper beds and means of access (including ladders, stairs, handrails and access platforms). CC believes that implementing these new requirements will provide better protection to children.
- The physical and mechanical safety of toddlers’ necessities would be of utmost importance. Unsafe products with uncertain stability may lead to serious injuries to young children during normal usage and palpable misuse.
- For toys, CC supports the proposal of adopting the latest edition of the AS/NZS ISO 8124-3 Standard where the migration limit for Boron in modelling clay, slime and putty toys was added. Boron compounds are commonly used in the raw materials for producing these toys to enhance their elasticity and stretchability. However, prolonged contact with skin and hand-to-mouth ingestion of products containing excessive boron can pose risks to children’s health in the long term. CC believes that implementing these new requirements will help safeguard children from this potential harmful substance.
- In addition to the proposed changes by the Government, CC suggests considering the incorporation of soother holder in the list of Schedule 2 products under Toys and Children’s Product Safety Ordinance, with reference to European Standard as one of the requirements. In the test conducted by CC on soother holders in March 2024, it was found that 40% of the tested samples did not meet the safety requirements of the European Standard BS EN 12586, posing choking or strangulation hazards. The test results revealed that the garment fastener or decorative part of 5 models could pass through the 2 test guides simulating the oral cavity of young children, yet these parts did not provide ventilation holes and thus had posed choking hazards.
- In the test conducted by CC on desk mat in December 2024, it was found that 47% of the tested models were found with phthalate levels exceeding the EU REACH requirement and the model with the highest level was detected with a level of phthalate of 22.2%. Considering the toxicity and impact of phthalates on the health of consumers (particularly infants and young children), CC suggests the Bureau to consider extending the scope of phthalate requirements to stationery products to safeguard the next generation.
- CC therefore considers that adopting the updated international standards to improve the safety in these toys and children’s products will provide better protection to young children.
December 2024
Consumer Council
