EU Introduces New Safety Standard for Young Children’s Drinking Equipment

EU publishes new safety standard for drinking equipment intended to be used by young children – EN-14350:2020. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 16, 2020 - European Union (EU) introduces a new standard for young children’s drinking equipment that combines and supersedes two previous standards.

The European Committee for Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalisation, CEN) published EN 14350:2020 ‘Childcare articles – Drinking Equipment – Safety requirements and test methods’ in June 2020. In addition to combining two previous standards, the new standard also introduces several important changes. These include:

1. Clause 3 ‘Terms and Definitions’ – restructured with revision of existing terminologies and addition of new entries
2. Clause 4 ‘Description’ – expands pictorial representations of different pieces of drinking equipment and their design features by including a push-pull valve, protective covers, handles, a clip, and loops
3. Clause 5 ‘Test equipment and tolerances’ – completely new section describing the test equipment to be used
4. Clause 6 ‘Construction and mechanical properties – General and sample preparation’ – sample preparation and conditioning have been revised
5. Clause 7 ‘Construction and mechanical requirements and tests’ – expanded and restructured to improve the order of testing. New requirements for decoration, inscription and decals have been introduced, and the test method has been modified
6. Clause 8 ‘Chemical requirements and test methods’ – expanded and restructured but substances covered by other pieces of harmonized legislation are excluded, including:
- Phthalates falling under entries 51 and 52 to Annex XVII of Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 ‘Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
- Food contact substances (e.g. bisphenol A (BPA)) in Regulation (EU) 10/2011 ‘Food Contact Plastics’
7. Annex A ‘Warnings’ – completely new normative annex with translation of warnings in 24 languages
8. Annex B ‘Rationales’ – completely new informative annex providing explanations for the inclusion of some of the requirements in the standard
9. Annex C ‘Method for the determination of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) and antioxidants specified in Table 7’ – informative annex has been revised with additional information
10. Annex E ‘Good practice for visibility and legibility’ – completely new informative annex for warnings, product, and purchase information as well as instructions for use

The new standard also has migration limits for 19 soluble elements, including two forms of chromium. The previous standard only had migration limits for 8 substances, of which chromium was included as a single group. The migration limits (mg/kg) in EN 14350:2020 are:

• Antimony (Sb) - 120
• Arsenic (As) - 10
• Barium (Ba) - 4,000
• Cadmium (Cd) - 3.6
• Lead (Pb) - 5.0
• Mercury (Hg) - 20
• Selenium (Se) - 100
• Aluminum (Al) - 6,000
• Boron (B) - 3,200
• Chromium (III) - 100
• Chromium (VI) - 0.002
• Cobalt (Co) - 28
• Copper (Cu) - 1,660
• Manganese (Mn) - 600
• Nickel (Ni) - 56
• Strontium (Sr) - 12,000
• Tin (Sn) - 40,000
• Organic tin - 2.5
• Zinc (Zn) - 10,000

NB. For chromium (VI), the sample is considered a ‘Pass’ if the result is below the Limit of Quantification (LOQ) of EN 71-3.

EN 14350:2020 covers drinking equipment aimed at children aged zero to 48 months. It includes safety requirements relating to materials, construction, performance, packaging, and product information. It combines and supersedes two previous standards:
• EN 14350-1:2004 ‘Child use and care articles – Drinking equipment – Part 1: General and mechanical requirements and tests’
• EN 14350-2:2004 ‘Child use and care articles – Drinking equipment – Part 2: Chemical requirements and tests’

The new standard is to be given the status of a national standard by December 2020, with conflicting national standards being withdrawn by June 2021. It is expected that the standard will be harmonized under Directive 2001/95/EC, the so-called General Product Safety Directive (GPSD), once it is officially accepted by the European Commission (EC) and published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

SGS Toy & Juvenile Product Services
SGS offers a wide range of services to ensure that products comply with relevant standards for juvenile products and childcare articles. They provide consulting, training, product development, testing, audit and inspection services to ensure that products comply with strict regulations worldwide, demonstrating the safety and quality of juvenile products being brought to the market. Learn more about SGS’s Toy & Juvenile Product Services. [www.sgs.com/en/consumer-goods-retail/toys-and-juvenile-products

SGS SafeGuardS keep you up to date with the latest news and developments in the consumer goods industry. Read the full CEN Issues EN 14350:2020 ‘Drinking Equipment for Young Children’ SafeGuardS. [www.sgs.com/en/news/2020/07/safeguards-09920-cen-issues-C-drinking-equipment-for-young-children]

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