Amendment to acoustic requirements for toys is published and harmonised

December, 2013

Relevant for: Toys & children's products

acoustic requirement toysAn amendment to the EU toy standard EN 71-1 on the requirements in acoustics has recently been published by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) as EN 71-1:2011+A2:2013.  The reference to this standard has also been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 31 October 2013. This means from that date onwards, the new standard can be used to demonstrate compliance with the safety requirements in acoustics under the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC.  The existing standard, EN 71-1:2011, can still be used until 30 September 2014.

Some of the changes include:

  • the number of adult test operators for rattles has been increased from one to three;
  • a new testing method for wind and percussion toys;
  • all sound producing toys are now covered, examples of new categories include percussion toys (e.g. drums) and wind toys (e.g. toy whistle);
  • all sound producing toys are now divided into 3 new exposure categories, which determine the specific requirements for a particular toy (see Table A) and must be taken into consideration prior to all testing.

Table A.  The 3 new exposure categories of toys designed to emit sound

Exposure category

Definition

Category 1

  • Toys emitting sound during time periods typically longer than 30 s after each initiation;
  • Close-to-the-ear toys emitting sound during time periods typically longer than 30 s after each initiation;
  • Toys using headphones or earphones;
  • Other toys emitting sound typically during more than 1/3 of the playing time.

Category 2

  • Toys emitting sound during time periods typically shorter than 30 s but longer than 5 s after each initiation;
  • Close-to-the-ear toys that, while emitting sound, are held close to the ear during time periods typically shorter than 30 s but longer than 5s;
  • Rattles and squeeze toys;
  • Wind toys which are imitations of musical instruments;
  • Other toys emitting sound typically during less than 1/3 and more than 1/10 of the playing time.

Category 3

  • Toys emitting sound during time periods typically shorter than 5 s after each initiation;
  • Toys for which maintaining the sound output requires significant physical effort;
  • Close-to-the-ear toys that, while emitting sound, are held close to the ear during time periods typically shorter than 5 s;
  • Cap-firing toys;
  • Wind toys such as whistles;
  • Other toys emitting sound typically during less than 1/10 of the playing time.