Mandatory Chinese standard for infant and children textiles to apply since 1 June

The first mandatory Chinese standard GB 31701-2015 Safety Technical Code for Infants and Children Textile Products will apply since 1 June 2016. The standard provides for safety technical requirements, test methods and rules of textiles intended for infants and young children under 3 years of age and children between 3 and 14 years of age.

Scope
It applies to infant and children textiles intended for sale in China. However, plush toys, cloth art crafts, disposable sanitary products, luggage, bags, umbrellas, carpets, professional sports wear are not in the scope of the standard.
It has to be noted that products falling under the category shall fulfill the requirements in GB 31701 and GB 18401.
 
Classification
It also classifies children’s wear into Class A, B and C, among which Class A is the best and then follows B and C (which only meets basic requirements) as per different requirements on safety. Besides, infants and children textile products are required to comply with requirements of Class A, children textile products with direct contact to skin shall at least meet requirements of Class B and those without direct contact to skin shall at least meet requirements of Class C. In the meantime, safety category shall be indicated during the application of children’s wear and “infant products” shall be specified on textile products for infants.
 
Test Requirements

Test items			Class A	Class B	Class C
Colour fastness to wet rubbing a/Level≥			3 (dark)	2~3	—
Heavy metals b/（mg/kg）≤		Lead	90	—	—
		Cadmium	100	—	—
Phthalates c/%	DEHP, DBP and BBP		0.1	—	—
	DINP, DIDP and DNOP		0.1	—	—
Flammability d			Level 1 (normal)

* Non-exhaustive list for test items.
 
However, a two-year transitional period for implementation is set up for steadiness of the market, starting from 1 June 2016 to 31 May 2018. During the period, products that manufactured before 1 June 2016 and conforming to related standards are allowed to be sold on the market, while test agencies shall conduct tests according to implementation standards of enterprises. All products on the market shall comply with requirements of the standard after 1 June 2018.
 
C&K Testing advises manufacturers should update technology within the transitional period to comply with the new requirements and importers should send their products for testing to check compliance.