Important Changes to ASTM Standard for Children’s Jewelry

ASTM International has made two important changes to the technical requirements in its standard for children’s jewelry. The changes come as ASTM International publishes updated versions of two jewelry standards:
• ASTM F2923-20 ‘Standard Specification for Consumer Product Safety for Children’s Jewelry’
• ASTM F2999-19 ‘Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Adult Jewelry’

The adult standard remains largely unchanged from its 2014 version, although both standards have had editorial changes, including the deletion of references to alternative methods, and both now cite the latest versions of European, American and CPSC standards.

The children’s jewelry standard, ASTM F2923-20, does, however, contain two important technical changes. These relate to:

Cadmium content:
• Cadmium content limit strengthened from 300 ppm to 75 ppm for screening accessible metal or plastic/polymeric components:
o Components with no more than 75 ppm cadmium content are not required to be tested for migratable cadmium
o Small part components (16 CFR 1501.4) with more than 75 ppm cadmium content are required to be tested for soluble cadmium using an acid extraction test
o Components that are not small parts (16 CFR 1501.4) are to be tested using a saline extraction test

Phthalates in plasticized components:
• New section – accessible plasticized materials are obliged to comply with no more than 0.1% for each of the eight phthalates falling under 16 CFR 1307 using CPSC-CHC1001-09.4 (elastic strings are not considered as accessible)

The eight phthalates are:
• Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP)
• Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP)
• Dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP)
• Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
• Di-n-hexyl phthalate (DHEXP (DnHP))
• Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)
• Diisononyl phthalate (DINP)
• Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPENP)

Stakeholders operating in territories that use these standards to regulate jewelry – as diverse as the US state of Rhode Island and the country of Oman – should now check their products remain compliant to the latest versions of the standards.
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