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Safe non-food consumer Products in the EU and China
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Safe non-food consumer Products in the EU and China
This factsheet applies to children’s clothing and textile products. Children’s clothing and textile products include all garments intended by design, production route or selling route to be worn by children up to the age of 14 years old. For dress up costumes also refer to the SPEAC finder information on disguise costumes.
NB: For this product category, EU law does not foresee mandatory certification.
This is a list of examples of common risks. However, before placing a product on the market, the manufacturer has to carry out an assessment of the product that covers all relevant risks that may be associated with it and actions taken to mitigate these where possible. A general definition of risk and its relationship to hazards can be found in the factsheet on Risk management.
1. Thermal risks:
2. Mechanical/physical risks:
3. Chemical risks:
4. Hygiene risks:
A general definition of risk and its relationship to hazards can be found in the factsheet on Risk management.
Examples of dangerous products
Specific examples of measures taken against dangerous children’s clothing and textile products offered for sale in the European Union are available on the Safety Gate website. Type ‘children’s clothing’ into the free text search box (but without the quotation marks) and select the ‘Childcare articles and children’s equipment’ Product Category to view notified examples. A better understanding of mistakes made in the safety assessment of the children’s clothing and textile products or its manufacture can help avoid their repetition.
Please note that every product must be safe for consumers, according to the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) of the EU. This is the applicable law covering children’s clothing and textile products.
A ‘safe product’ shall mean – any product which, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, does not present any risk or only the minimum risks compatible with the product’s use, considered to be acceptable and consistent with a high level of protection for the safety and health of persons
It is important to take into account the following points in particular:
(a) the characteristics of the product, including its design, technical features, composition, packaging, instructions for assembly and, where applicable, for installation, use and maintenance;
(b) the effect on other products, where it is reasonably foreseeable that the product will be used with other products, including the interconnection of those products;
(c) the effect that other products might have on the product to be assessed, where it is reasonably foreseeable that other products will be used with that product, including the effect of non-embedded items that are meant to determine, change or complete the way the product to be assessed works, which has to be taken into consideration when assessing the safety of the product to be assessed;
(d) the presentation of the product, the labelling, including the labelling regarding age suitability for children, any warnings and instructions for its safe use and disposal, and any other indication or information regarding the product;
(e) the categories of consumers using the product, in particular by assessing the risk for vulnerable consumers such as children, older people and persons with disabilities, as well as the impact of gender differences on health and safety;
(f) the appearance of the product where it is likely to lead consumers to use the product in a way different to what it was designed for, and in particular:
(i) where a product, although not foodstuff, resembles foodstuff and is likely to be confused with foodstuff due to its form, odour, colour, appearance, packaging, labelling, volume, size or other characteristics and might therefore be placed in the mouth, sucked or ingested by consumers, especially by children;
(ii) where a product, although neither designed nor intended for use by children, is likely to be used by children or resembles an object commonly recognised as appealing to or intended for use by children because of its design, packaging or characteristics;
(g) when required by the nature of the product, the appropriate cybersecurity features necessary to protect the product against external influences, including malicious third parties, where such an influence might have an impact on the safety of the product, including the possible loss of interconnection;
(h) when required by the nature of the product, the evolving, learning and predictive functionalities of the product.
It is essential for manufacturers to consider whether their products might also have a ‘play value’ to a child, e.g. because it has a rattle effect or some other toy or play item attached to it (i.e. a plush toys attached to the strap). This is because products which have play value are considered as toys and must comply with all the requirements of the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC. To be considered as a toy for the purpose of the Directive, the play value has to be introduced in an intended way by the manufacturer. The EU has issued a good deal of guidance on toy safety to help manufacturers, and this includes guidance document no. 4 which can be found here will specifically help manufacturers consider the issue of childcare articles which may also fall within the definition of being a toy.
Comprehensive factsheets on the requirements concerning toys can be found here.
Certain European technical standards concerning children’s products have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) as a support of European legislation. A product complying with these standards is presumed to meet the EU safety requirements for the risks. When manufactures carry out the risk assessment of their product, they can rely on these technical standards for the risks covered by such standards. Further information on, and the list of standards published in the OJEU for childcare articles is available here.
The OJEU lists the following standard for children’s clothing and textile products:
The standard covers the key hazard associated with entrapment and strangulation. The following items are out of scope of the standard:
a. child use and care articles, for example bibs, nappies and soother holders;
b. shoes, boots and similar footwear;
c. gloves, hats, bonnets and scarves;
d. neckties designed to be worn with a shirt or blouse;
e. belts, with the exception of tied belts which are within scope;
f. braces;
g. religious clothing;
h. celebratory clothing such as that worn at civil or religious ceremonies, national or regional festivals provided this is worn for limited periods and under supervision;
i. specialist sportswear and activity wear generally worn for limited periods and under supervision, for example rugby shorts, wet suits, and dancewear, except where those garments are commonly worn as day wear or night wear;
j. theatrical costumes used for theatrical performances;
k. aprons intended to be worn over day wear, for limited periods and under supervision, to protect clothing from soiling during activities such as painting, cooking, or during mealtimes;
l. bags and purses.
The standard specifies other aspects such as marking and instructions as well as detailed testing requirements. Manufacturers must check their risk assessment to verify that all possible hazards and requirements that might affect their product have been adequately dealt with.
Furthermore, the technical report CEN/TR 16792:2014 and the standard EN 14878:2007 on burning behaviour of children’s nightwear may be of relevance. Neither of these are cited in the OJEU, but European market surveillance authorities may rely on them when they make safety assessments of non-compliant products.
CEN/TR 16792:2014. Safety of children’s clothing — Recommendations for the design and manufacture of children’s clothing — Mechanical safety
This technical report focuses on the hazards associated with mechanical safety such as entrapment, injuries from sharp objects, choking, suffocation etc. It is applicable to clothing including bonnets, hats, gloves, scarves, socks and other clothing accessories intended for all children up to 14 years of age.
CEN/TR 16792:2014 references parts of EN 71 which are harmonised (refer to PD CEN/TR 16792:2014 for more information).
EN 14878:2007. Textiles. Burning behaviour of children’s nightwear. Specification.
The standard focuses on the hazards of flammability associated with nightwear.
Note: The following site of CEN (the European standardisation organisation) provides links to the national standardisations bodies’ websites. In addition, the China Standards Information Services Network can be used to access European standards.
The following summarises some further key applicable laws:
The following are obligatory as stated in the General Product Safety Regulation, article 9:
All product information including instructions and safety information must be given in a language which can be easily understood by consumers, as determined by the Member State in which the product is sold as stated in the General Product Safety Regulation, article 9(7).
To ensure safety of children’s clothing, there is also a range of general requirements to be fulfilled. These are explained in the following factsheets and need to be read in conjunction with this factsheet:
You may also visit the SPEAC ACADEMY to learn more about the EU Safety requirements.
The provided information was updated in 2024. Please note that some of the provided information could change during possible subsequent revisions of legislation, standards, and guidance documents. For any updates of official information on the EU product safety rules, please follow the Link to the webpage of the European Commission.
This document was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of SPEAC project and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
This website was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of SPEAC project and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.