CPSC Approves Updated Federal Toy Safety Standard, Effective April 20

January 23, 2024 | The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has unanimously voted to approve the revised ASTM International F963 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety (ASTM F963-23). Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, toys to be sold in the U.S. market that are produced on or after April 20, 2024 will need to comply with ASTM F963-23 as the new mandatory consumer product safety standard for toys. If the CPSC receives no significant adverse comment by February 20, the standard will be incorporated by reference under 16 CFR 1250, replacing the reference to earlier versions of the standard.

ASTM F963-23 reflects changes approved within the ASTM International F15.22 Subcommittee on Toy Safety over the past few years. The multi-stakeholder ASTM F15.22 Subcommittee on Toy Safety, chaired by Joan Lawrence, senior vice president of standards & regulatory affairs at The Toy Association™, is charged with overseeing the consensus standard to ensure that it keeps pace with product innovation and the latest data on child behavior and risk.

The updated standard includes new performance requirements, clarifications, and corrections that will increase toy safety and reduce testing burdens. The revisions impact the technical requirements for acoustics (sound level of toys), battery accessibility, expanding materials, and projectiles, in addition to clarifying and aligning the requirements for phthalates, exemptions for toy substrate materials, and tracking labels for toys with respective federal regulations and CPSC policy. Numerous editorial changes to the standard were also made. The Toy Association will brief its members on the changes in an upcoming educational session.

ASTM members are entitled to one free standards volume annually and may be able to obtain the revised ASTM F963-23 through that subscription, or the standard may be purchased from ASTM here. Alternatively, an interim, read-only copy of the revised standard will be available for a limited time here.

Future Proposed Changes
In addition, new work items have also begun on other technical areas of the standard and will likely result in additional changes to be made in a future revision to ASTM F963. These areas of focus include battery accessibility and water/gel bead toys, among others.

The Toy Association will continue to keep the industry apprised of activity related to potential changes to the safety standards for toys. Toy Association members can contact Joan Lawrence or Jos Huxley, senior vice president of technical affairs, for more details. 

For more information, visit ASTM.org.