ANSI Opposes ISO Child Conveyance Project Citing Redundancy

Redundancy is the primary reason behind a disapproval vote by ANSI on a potential project to create a standard at ISO on wheeled child conveyances. The U.S. standards overseer noted that numerous requirements already exist, including ASTM's F833 on carriages and strollers in the U.S.

ANSI's comments on its vote include that the ASTM F15.17 panel that oversees F833 "has international perspective in its work via participating experts from a number of countries including the USA, Canada, China, South Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom." As well, ANSI noted that CPSC has adopted F833 as a mandatory standard under the agency's Section 104 process, adding to the complications.

The standards group further explained, "[W]e believe that introducing yet another standard into the global marketplace will not improve the safety of this category of children’s products, but rather will increase complexity in compliance for global manufacturers without value. We also believe that the years and significant resources from multiple countries required to create a standard of the highest safety caliber will serve as a deterrent to the success of the ISO effort."

Nonetheless, the organization said it intends to register as an observing member – and possibly eventually a participating member – of the ISO panel in charge. Last month (PSL, 8/22/16), ANSI held a meeting to solicit comments from U.S. stakeholders. At that time, both consumer and industry representative worried about conflicts with F833.