Toy Association's Kaufman Advocates for Safer Toys & Aligned Standards at Int'l Safety Meetings

September 27, 2019 | The Toy Association’s Alan Kaufman, senior vice president of technical affairs, traveled to Seoul, South Korea this week for meetings of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 181 on Toy Safety.

Working groups led by The Toy Association and representatives of government, industry, testing labs, and consumer groups from ISO member countries discussed updates to ISO 8124, the toy standard intended for use by countries around the world. Microbiology, expanding toys, flying toys, heavy elements, the alignment of standards, and phthalate test methods were among the topics addressed by the group.

"The Toy Association takes seriously its role in advocating for stronger global toy safety standards that are compatible with requirements in the U.S. and other jurisdictions,” said Kaufman. “We are pleased to report that progress continues to be made to align certain ISO 8124 sections with ASTM F963 in the United States. These revisions ultimately result in safer products for children around the world."

Members will be kept apprised once updates to the ISO toy safety standard are finalized.