Safe Children's Clothes
- The General Product Safety Regulations 1994
- The Children‘s Clothing (hood cords) Regulations 1976
- The Nightwear (safety) Regulations 1985
Children’s clothing must comply with the above Regulations. There is a British Standard Institutions Code of Practice which gives advice about children’s clothing
Apart from the Regulations mentioned above, there are no other specific regulations covering the safety of children’s clothing. All other aspects of the safety of children’s clothing are covered by the General Product Safety Regulations 1994. These Regulations place a responsibility on businesses to supply safe goods.
The clothing must comply with any relevant safety legislation. Where there is no specific legislation, the safety of the product will be covered by the General Product Safety Regulations 1994. There is also a Code of Practice on the design and manufacture of children’s clothing to promote mechanical safety). The Regulations are available from the
These Regulations specify that the hoods of children’s outer garments must not be designed to be secured by means of a cord drawn through the material.
The Regulations define a child’s outer garment as:
‘a raincoat, overcoat, anorak or other garment suitable for use as outer wear having a measurement not exceeding 44 cm across the chest when the finished garment is laid out as flat as possible without distorting its natural two-dimensional shape and buttoned or otherwise fastened as it is designed to be in normal wear’.
The hood cord Regulations date back to 1976 when garments were closely fitted. Changing fashion to loose fit and wadded garments means that many outer garments for young children fall outside the scope of the legislation –.
The safety of children’s outer garments exceeding the size restrictions in the hood cord Regulations is covered by the General Product Safety Regulations 1994 in conjunction with the Code of Practice on the design and manufacture of children’s clothing).
It is our view that under the General Product Safety Regulations it would be reasonable to expect that outer garments intended for children up to say, seven years of age, should not have cords drawn through the material of the hood. (A European standard which is currently under development provides that there should be no cords in the hood or neck area of garments intended for children under seven years of age).
Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985
These Regulations prohibit the supply of children’s nightwear (other than pyjamas, babies’ garments and cotton terry towelling bath robes) that do not meet flammability performance requirements. The Regulations also specify labelling requirements.
There is a British Standard Institution (BSI) Code of Practice which gives recommendations for materials, design and manufacturing to promote the safety of children’s clothing. The Code, reference number BS 7907:1997, is available from BSI You should check the latest position in respect of standards with BSI .
Day-to-day enforcement of safety legislation is the responsibility of lHackney trading standards officers who have the necessary powers to take action if they believe a product to be unsafe. They can suspend unsafe products and can prosecute suppliers of unsafe products.
Page updated: 28 Feb 2007