U.S. – CPSC Approves 16 CFR 1231 Safety Standard for High Chairs

Vol. 1029 | 27 Jun 2018

As part of the rulemaking process required by Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has approved a new federal regulation: 16 CFR 1231 Safety Standard for High Chairs. The rule adopts the current ASTM standard F404 - 18 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for High Chairs with no modifications.

A “high chair” as defined by the ASTM standard 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.”

In 2015, the CPSC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to adopt the F404 - 15 version of the standard with modifications to certain key requirements to address rearward tip-overs and more effective warnings on the product and instructional literature. Since then, the ASTM standard for high chairs has gone through multiple revisions to address the modifications put forth by the NPR.

The current ASTM F404 -18 standard for high chairs incorporates a rearward stability requirement with clarifications to the test method for various designs of high chairs as well as the ad hoc language task group recommendations for warnings besides including some key features such as:

• Tray or Front Torso Support Performance
• Completely Bounded Openings
• Restraint System Effectiveness and Integrity
• Protrusions

The CPSC approved rule becomes effective 12 months after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register, on June 19, 2019. High chairs manufactured on and after this date shall meet requirements of this rule and additionally will also require certification per 16 CFR 1110 based on testing at a CPSC-approved third-party accreditation body (third-party lab) for 16 CFR 1231.

The Final Rule can be viewed at: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-06-19/pdf/2018-12938.pdf

For questions, please contact Laxmi Ravikumar (laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com, +1-630-209-9265).