The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) has issued a revised toy safety standard, EN 71-1, to EN 71-1:2001+A2:2013.
The standard has been revised to address new requirements for sound-producing toys, as per the recently-revised European Toy Safety Directive, 2009/48/EC.
The Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) has issued a summary of these new requirements, clarifying that they establish limit values for all toys intended to emit sound. Limit values are given both for short, sudden sound (impulse sound) and for sound with longer duration (continuous sound).
Additionally, several new terms and definitions have been introduced and some of the existing ones have been modified. Examples of new terms are “wind toys” (e.g., a flute, trumpet, etc.), “voice toys” (e.g., a telephone, walkie talkie, etc.) and “percussion toys” (e.g., a drum, xylophone etc.).
Further, the standard introduces “exposure categories,” which determine the strictness of limit values for continuous sound in toys, based on the share of the playing time during which a toy emits sound. Sound producing toys are placed in one of three exposure categories, based on specified criteria. Category 1 covers toys that normally emit sound during more than one third of the playing time; category 2 covers toys that emit sound during less than one third but more than one tenth of the playing time; and toys that emit sound during less than one tenth of the playing time belong in category 3.
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