. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/USA/748 
12 September 2012  
 (12-4873) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) (766) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :    
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Magnet sets (ICS 13.120, 
97.190, 97.200) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Safety Standard for 
Magnet Sets (21 pages, in English).   
6. Description of content:  Based on available data, the U. S. Consumer Product Safety 
Commission (the Commission, the CPSC, or we) has determined preliminarily that there may 
be an unreasonable risk of in jury associated with children  ingesting high-powered magnets 
that are part of magnet sets. These magnet sets are aggregations of separable, permanent, magnetic objects intended or mark eted by the manufacturer primarily as a manipulative or 
construction desk toy for general entertainment,  such as puzzle working, sculpture building, 
mental stimulation, or stress re lief. In contrast to ingesting other small parts, when a child 
ingests a magnet, the magnetic pr operties of the object can ca use serious, life -threatening 
injuries. When children ingest two or more of the magnets, the magnetic forces pull the 
magnets together, and the magnets pinch or trap the intestinal walls or other digestive tissue 
between them, resulting in acute and long-ter m health consequences. Although magnet sets 
have only been available since 2008, we have de termined that an esti mated 1,700 ingestions 
of magnets from magnet sets were treated in emergency depa rtments between 1 January 2009 
and 31 December 2011. 
To address the unreasonable risks of serious injury associated with these magnet sets, the 
Commission is issuing this notice of proposed  rulemaking (NPR), which would prohibit such 
magnet sets.  Under the proposal, if a magnet set co ntains a magnet that fits within the CPSC's 
small parts cylinder, magnets from that set woul d be required to have a flux index of 50 or 
less, or they would be prohibited. The flux index would be determined by the method described in ASTM F963-11, St andard Consumer Safety Sp ecification for Toy Safety. 
The Commission solicits written comments concerning the risks of injury associated with 
these magnet sets, the regulatory alternatives di scussed in this NPR, other possible ways to G/TBT/N/USA/748 
Page 2  
 
  address these risks, and the economic impacts of the various regulatory alternatives. This 
proposed rule is issued under the authority of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human life  
8. Relevant documents:   77 Federal Register (FR) 53781, 4 September 2012; Title 16 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR ) Part 1240.  Will appear in the Federal Register when adopted.   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   To be determined 
10. Final date for comments:  19 November 2012 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body:    
Internet URLs: 
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ FR-2012-09-04/html/2012-21608.htm  
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-09-04/pdf/2012-21608.pdf