2009/18/EC: Commission Decision of 22 December 2008 on the compliance of standard EN 1273:2005 on baby walking frames with the general safety requirement of Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and publication of the reference of the standard in the Official Journal (notified under document number C(2008) 8616) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-12-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European standard, child protection, information society, product safety, toy industry

13.1.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 8/29

COMMISSION DECISION

of 22 December 2008

on the compliance of standard EN 1273:2005 on baby walking frames with the general safety
the Council and
requirement of Directive 2001/95/EC of

the European Parliament and of

publication of the reference of the standard in the Official Journal

(notified under document number C(2008) 8616)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2009/18/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

the European
Having regard to Directive 2001/95/EC of
Parliament and of
the Council of 3 December 2001 on
general product safety (1), and in particular Article 4(2), first
subparagraph thereof,

After consulting the Standing Committee set up in accordance
with Article 5 of Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure
for
technical
standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society
services (2),

information in the field of

the provision of

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/95/EC obliges producers to
place only safe products on the market.

Under Article 3(2) of Directive 2001/95/EC, a product is
presumed to be safe, as far as the risks and risk categories
covered by the relevant national standards are concerned,
when it conforms to voluntary national standards trans­
posing European standards, the references of which have
to be published by the Commission in the Official Journal
of the European Union, in accordance with Article 4(2) of
the Directive.

to Article 4(1) of

Pursuant
the Directive, European
standards should be established by European standardi­
sation bodies under mandates drawn up by
the
Commission. The Commission will publish the references
of such standards.

Article 4(2) of the Directive lays down a procedure for
the publication of references of standards adopted by the
European standardisation bodies before the entry into
the Directive. Where such standards ensure
force of

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

compliance with the general safety requirement,
the
Commission will decide to publish the references in the
Official Journal of the European Union. In such cases, the
Commission, acting on its own initiative or at the request
of a Member State, will decide, in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 15(2) of the Directive,
the standard in question meets the general
whether
safety requirement. The Commission will decide to
publish the reference of the standard after consulting
the Committee established by Article 5 of Directive
98/34/EC. The Commission will notify the Member
States of its decision.

Baby walking frames are devices that help pre-ambu­
latory children to move around on their own. Hospital
emergency data from both Europe and the US over the
last 20 years, however, consistently show that baby
walking frames are a fall hazard, because they increase
the mobility and the speed of children who are not yet
able to stand or walk on their own.

Accidents using baby walking frames are mainly due to
tipping over, especially when
falling down stairs or
children try to go over uneven surfaces such as door
thresholds or carpet edges. Injuries resulting from such
accidents are very serious, because,
in the majority of
cases, they affect the child’s head.

In September 1997, the Commission issued a mandate (3)
to CEN (European Committee for Standardisation)
to
address the specific safety risks due to the increased
mobility and speed provided by baby walking frames
to pre-ambulatory children in the relevant standard that
CEN was developing at that time.

The Commission considered the first version of standard
EN 1273 adopted by CEN in 2001 not to be satisfactory,
since the standard did not address the specific risks
described in the mandate.

provides

The revised version of EN standard 1273 of May 2005,
design
however,
requirements geared to reducing injuries caused by
falling down stairs and tipping over, as requested in
the Commission’s mandate.

stability

tests

and

for

(1) OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.
(2) OJ L 204, 21.7.1998, p. 37.

(3) Mandate M/253 of 14 September 1997.

L 8/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

13.1.2009

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

EN 1273:2005 is widely used by the market surveillance
authorities in the Member States, as confirmed by several
RAPEX notifications making reference to this standard.
Furthermore, some Members States refer to this standard
in their legislation on the safety of child-care articles (1).

The improved safety against
falling down steps and
tipping over provided by EN 1273:2005 increases the
passive prevention of accidents arising from the use of
baby walking frames.

The Commission considers that EN 1273:2005 complies
with the general safety requirement. As the standard was
adopted under a mandate issued before the entry into
force of Directive 2001/95/EC,
the reference of EN
1273:2005 should be published in accordance with the
procedure provided for in Article 4(2), first subparagraph.

compliance of EN standard
This Decision on the
1273:2005 with the general safety requirement is taken
at the initiative of the Commission.

The measures provided for
accordance with the opinion of
Directive 2001/95/EC,

in this Decision are in
the Committee of

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

EN standard 1273:2005 ‘Child use and care articles — Baby
walking frames — Safety requirements and test methods’ meets
the general safety requirement of Directive 2001/95/EC for the
risks it covers.

Article 2

The reference of EN standard 1273:2005 shall be published in
part C of the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2008.

For the Commission

Meglena KUNEVA
Member of the Commission

(1) France: Avis

relatif à l’application du décret no 91-1292 du
20 décembre 1991 relatif à la prévention des risques résultant de
l’usage des articles de puériculture (JO du 8 avril 2008).
Austria: Kinderlaufhilfenverordnung 2007, Austrian Official Journal,
7 August 2008.