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CANADA: Health Canada publishes tent regulation SOR/2024-217

DECEMBER 2024 -  HARDLINES, TOYS AND CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

On 20 November 2024, Health Canada published its new Tent Regulations (SOR/2024-217)¹, which repeals SOR/2016-185².

The new regulation continues to cover tents, including children’s tents.

• Tents, as defined in the regulation, are structures that meet the following conditions:

  (a) they are portable;
  (b) they are intended to shelter persons from outdoor environmental elements such as precipitation, sun, wind or insects;
  (c) they are made, in whole or in part, of fabric or other pliable material;
  (d) they have a top;
  (e) they have at least one side that constrains egress; and
  (f) they are not subject to the National Building Code of Canada 2020, published by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes, National Research Council of Canada. 

• Children’s tents, in the regulation, are tents intended for use by children under 14 years of age and are not intended for use with a cooking or heating device.
• For tents covered, the new regulation now incorporates the contemporary safety standard CAN/CGSB-182.1-2020, replacing the previous outdated CPAI-84 standard.

Play tents are now regulated under Toys Regulation, as amended by this new regulation.

In the amended Toys Regulation:

• Play tents are defined as a toy intended to be entered by a child, meaning a toy constructed, in whole or in part, from fabric or other pliable material and intended to fully or almost fully enclose a child.
• Play tents shall be tested according to Subclauses 5.1 and 5.4 of ISO 8124-2, and meet the requirements in Subclause 4.4.
• Play tents shall have a permanent label containing a warning and an alert symbol as specified in the regulation.

The Regulation comes into force on 20 November 2024. A transitional provision of two years is included to allow the manufacture, import, advertisement or sale of products compliant with previous requirements.

The Regulation also includes a compliance period that applies whenever the CGSB and ISO standard are updated as a final amended standard:

• Tents subject to CAN/CGSB-182.1-2020:
  • in the case of the manufacture or import of the tent, for a period of one year
  • in the case of the advertisement or sale of the tent, for a period of two years

• Play tents subject to ISO 8124-2:
  • in the case of the manufacture or import, for a period of 180 days
  • in the case of the advertisement or sale, for a period of 365 days

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