The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) published a series of documents related to safety of children's clothing. The documents will help manufacturers to develop children’s garments in accordance with the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) requirements.

The documents aim to evaluate the safety of children's garments regarding the mechanical properties as the most dangerous and most frequent accidents happened because of using improper accessories and methods of their attachment.

Thus, CEN worked out the following documents:

• EN 17394-2:2020 Textiles and textile products - Part 2: Safety of children's clothing - Security of attachment of buttons - Test method.The standard defines a test method for security of attachment of functional and decorative buttons to clothing including garments. It was approved on October 7, 2020 but should be implemented at national levels from April 30, 2021.

• CEN/TS 17394-1:2021 Textiles and textile products - Part 1: Safety of children's clothing - Security of attachment of attached components to infants' clothing - Specification.This Specification contains requirements for security of attachment for clothing small components such as buttons, press fasteners, rivets, sequins, which fit entirely within the small parts cylinder without compression, for infants' clothing.It was approved on January 13, 2021 but should be announced at national levels by April 30, 2021.

• CEN/TS 17394-3:2021 Textiles and textile products - Part 3: Safety of children's clothing - Security of attachment of metal mechanically applied press fasteners - Test method.This Specification defines a test method for security of attachment of functional and decorative metal mechanically applied press fasteners to children's clothing. The described test methods cannot be used for Eyelets and rivets. These components are evaluated according to CEN/TS 17394-4:2021.It was approved on January 13, 2021 but should be announced at national levels by April 30, 2021.

• CEN/TS 17394-4:2021 Textiles and textile products - Part 4: Safety of children's clothing - Security of attachment of components except buttons and metal mechanically applied press fasteners - Test method.This Specification supplements EN 17394-2 and CEN/TS 17394-3, and is applicable to all other components including labels, badges, sequins, rhinestones, rivets, eyelets and non-metal press fasteners, which cannot be gripped in test equipment jaws.It was approved on January 13, 2021 but should be announced at national levels by April 30, 2021.

Please, note that all these documents don’t apply to:

• childcare articles
• footwear
• toys
• other articles sold with clothing

The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team. GMA Consult Group provides a full cycle of international type approval and global market access services for IT, Telecom, and industrial electrical products in all countries throughout the world. With proven expertise in worldwide regulations, compliance, certification, and conformity assessment, GMA Consult Group can help your company speed up the access to any market with almost zero efforts from your side.

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