CPSC Proposes New Mandatory Safety Standard for High Chairs
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a new children’s product safety standard for high chairs (here). The proposal would adopt as mandatory the current voluntary industry standard ASTM F404-15, “Standard Consumer Safety Specification for High Chairs,” with minor modifications that set stricter requirements for rearward stability and warnings on labels and instructions. Comments on the proposed rule are due Jan. 25.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Under the definition in ASTM F404-15, a “high chair” is “a free standing chair for a child up to 3 years of age which has a seating surface more than 15 in. above the floor and elevates the child normally for the purposes of feeding or eating.” According to the ASTM standard, a high chair may be sold with or without a tray, have adjustable heights, and recline for infants.
As part of the rulemaking, the CPSC is considering whether to treat restaurant-style high chairs differently from high chairs used in the home. Restaurant high chairs often do not follow many requirements of the ASTM voluntary standard, and different requirements may be appropriate for several reasons, said the CPSC. Options for treating restaurant style-high chairs differently from other high chairs include “excluding restaurant-style high chairs from the proposed standard or modifying individual requirements, such as label placement and bounded-openings, to reflect the features and lesser safety issues associated with restaurant-style high chairs,” said CPSC.
(Federal Register 11/09/15)