Scope
ASTM F963 (Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety) is the US counterpart to the EU Toy Safety Directive. Under section 106 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), ASTM F963 is a mandatory consumer product safety rule (16 CFR 1250), so its limits are enforceable law in the United States, not a voluntary consensus standard. Section 4.3.5 sets maximum soluble (migrated) element limits for the surface coating and the accessible substrate of a toy — the acid-soluble element that migrates under simulated gastric conditions, expressed in mg/kg (ppm) of material. This is the same measured quantity and basis as the EU 2009/48/EC migration limits.
Soluble migrated element limits (§4.3.5)
Values in ppm (mg/kg). These limits are identical across editions F963-08, -11, -16, -17, and -23 — they have not changed.
| Element | Soluble limit (ppm = mg/kg) |
|---|---|
| Antimony | 60 |
| Arsenic | 25 |
| Barium | 1000 |
| Cadmium | 75 |
| Chromium | 60 |
| Lead | 90 |
| Mercury | 60 |
| Selenium | 500 |
Separately, ASTM F963 and the CPSIA cap the total lead content of surface coatings at 90 ppm and the total lead content of accessible substrate at 100 ppm; those are total-content limits in a different basis (see US CPSIA — lead in children's products: 100 ppm total lead (substrate), 90 ppm (paint and surface coatings)).
How the limits are used in the Heavy Metal Tested & Certified standard
For HMTc Category 9, the ASTM F963 soluble limits are one member of the toy-migration family the mouthable-toy rows are set against, alongside the EU 2009/48/EC Category III limits and the Mexican NOM-252 bioavailable limits. The certification limit for each analyte is the strictest value across that family. For arsenic (25 ppm) and mercury (60 ppm), the ASTM/EN 71-3 soluble limits are stricter than the EU 2009/48/EC scraped-off values (47 and 94 mg/kg) and therefore bind. Arsenic and mercury are limited here as total element; inorganic arsenic and methylmercury have no migration counterpart.
Related pages
- Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, Total, Mercury, Total, Chromium
- US CPSIA — lead in children's products: 100 ppm total lead (substrate), 90 ppm (paint and surface coatings), EU Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC — element migration limits (Annex II Part III)
- Pacifiers and sucking/teething aids, Teething toys/teethers
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