ANSI Accredits First Five Certification Bodies for Toy Safety Certification

(ANSI: New York) -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system, is pleased to announce the first five certification bodies to be accredited under the new Toy Industry Association (TIA) Toy Safety Certification Program (TSCP). The TSCP was created to improve toy safety, enhance stakeholder confidence in toy products, and comply with new federal legislation mandating that toys be tested by a qualified lab and certified that they meet rigorous national safety standards and regulations, as well as retailer requirements.

ANSI accreditations under the TSCP have been granted to:

• Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services
• Intertek Testing Services Hong Kong Ltd.
• NSF International
• SGS North America Inc.
• STR-Registrar LLC

These certification bodies were assessed based on the requirements in the international standard ISO/IEC Guide 65—"General Requirements for Bodies Operating Product Certification Systems," the associated International Accreditation Forum (IAF) guidance document, and program requirements for the TSCP.

ISO/IEC Guide 65—the cornerstone of ANSI’s product certification accreditation process—is a globally recognized guideline that will facilitate the recognition of TSCP certifications across national borders. And because ANSI’s accreditation programs are driven by a process of continual quality improvement, certification bodies accredited under the TSCP will be subjected to periodic assessment and on-site evaluations to verify their continued conformance to program criteria.

“ANSI is pleased to announce these new accreditations for Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services, Intertek Testing Services Hong Kong, NSF International, SGS North America, and STR-Registrar, which recognize their fulfillment of the ANSI and TSCP requirements for competence of product certification bodies,” said Lane Hallenbeck, vice president for accreditation services at ANSI. “Keeping children safe is a top priority for ANSI and TIA, as well as for parents nationwide. Through the TSCP effort, we can assure integrity and consistency in toy safety certification, helping to boost consumer confidence that the toys on store shelves are safe.”

Development of the TSCP began in August 2007 when TIA engaged ANSI to coordinate a public-private partnership to develop conformity assessment guidance regarding toy safety. The resulting program has included and will continue to integrate input from U.S. government bodies, consumer groups, toy companies, retailers, toy testing labs, and factory auditing companies as well as officials and industry representatives from China and the European Union.

The program builds on the requirements of the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and goes even further to help assure the safety of toys entering the U.S. marketplace.

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed in September 2008, ANSI was named as the official third-party accreditor of TSCP’s product certification bodies.

“Today’s announcement is another significant milestone in the launch of the Toy Safety Certification Program,” says Elizabeth Borrelli, TSCP executive director. “The ANSI-TIA partnership has been instrumental in the development of a transparent, effective and credible system that will help to identify and remedy potential problems throughout the toy supply chain—from product design to playtime.”

ANSI is now accepting applications for further accreditations under the TSCP.

Additional information about the Toy Safety Certification Program can be found at www.toycertification.org [1]. Information about the ANSI accreditation process can be found online at www.ansi.org/tscp [2].