Guangzhou Customs facilitates China's intl toy standardization

Recently, a technical report on the safety standards for toy machinery and physical properties developed by China was issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The report, ISO/TR 8124-9:2018, will greatly enhance China's right to speak in the field of international toy standards and promote upgrading of its toy industry.

Chinese toys, when exported overseas, need to meet different standards in different countries. Often the same toy is subject to repeated testing of multiple safety standards in order to clear customs in various locations, leading to increased time commitments and costs, a burden on the country's toy export industry.

The report was drafted by experts from the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company ITS, as well as SGS, the Shenzhen Academy of Metrology & Quality Inspection, Guangzhou Customs and toy companies. Guangzhou Customs was the convener of the expert panel.  

The panel deliberated on the world's three toy standards - the international standard ISO 8124, the EU toy safety standard EN 71 and the American toy safety standard ASTM F 963, analyzing the mechanical and physical safety items one by one to find the differences between the three hoping to reduce them to advance standards integration and unification.

China makes about 70 percent of the world's toys. In the first quarter of 2018, China's toy exports were valued at $6.88 billion, an increase of 12.41 percent year-on-year. However, for a long time, Chinese toy manufacturing companies have been passively implementing more stringent standards set by developed countries in the world. Not only do they have high testing costs, they also bear the great risk of product recall due to differing standards.

In recent years, the technical testing department of Guangzhou Customs, under the guidance of the National Technical Committee of Standardization for Toys, has been taking an active part in international standard formulation. Its commitment has led to three ISO standards and promoted the establishment of the Technical Committee 119 on Juvenile Product Standardization of Guangdong province, the country's first provincial level standardization committee for children's toys.