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Canada: New federal carriages and strollers regulations are now in force

JUNE 2023 - TOYS AND CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

Health Canada has recently published the new Carriages and Strollers Regulations (SOR/2023-101)¹ under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) which came into force on 7 June 2023. The Government maintains a 180-day transition period that allows a product compliant with the former Regulations until 4 December 2023.

The New Regulations repeal and replace the former Regulations (SOR/2016-167) to address the following issues:

• aligning mechanical requirements with those in other jurisdictions through ambulatory incorporation by reference of international standards, including a period during which stakeholders may meet the mechanical requirements of either the previous or new version of an international standard;
• maintaining alignment of applied coating materials requirements² with the Toys Regulations (SOR/2011-17);
• maintaining alignment of toxicological requirements with the Toys Regulations (SOR/2011-17);
• aligning phthalates requirements with the Phthalates Regulations (SOR/2016-188);
• increasing alignment of information and warning requirements with other jurisdictions, while maintaining the official language requirement for all information and warnings to be written in both English and French.

Carriages and strollers must ensure compliance with either:

(a) the requirements from ASTM F833, excluding those set out in sections 5.3, 5.12, 8 and 9, or
(b) the requirements from ISO 31110, excluding those set out in sections 6, 7 and 10, and, in addition, the entrapment requirements from ASTM F833 sections 6.8 and 6.10.

The New Regulations include documents incorporated by ambulatory reference, using the words “as amended from time to time.” Any future changes to those documents will become part of the New Regulations. As a document is changed, the new version would become part of the regulation without needing to amend the New Regulations.

The New Regulations also include a period when a new version of a standard incorporated by reference is published that allows 180 days to manufacture or import and 365 days to advertise or sell products that meet either the new or the previous version of the standard.

Product Safety Laboratory (PSL) will create its own test method for the New Regulations that build on the incorporated test methods of the standards. The PSL method may include additional details that are important for the PSL to help ensure repeatable and reproducible test results, such as specifics for test equipment and measurement uncertainties. PSL test methods are not mandatory, they describe how Health Canada assesses products for compliance with mandatory regulatory requirements.

[1] Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 157 (2023), Number 12

[2] Canada: Regulations Amending Surface Coating Requirements Are Published, June 2022

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