Since June 2015, all packaging equipped with childproof seals must be tested to UNE-EN ISO 8317 and UNE- EN 862 standards in an accredited laboratory.
The Applus+
packaging laboratory has recently succeeded in widening the scope of its accreditation to encompass regulatory testing to UNE-EN ISO 8317 and UNE-EN 862 standards. These standards lay down the testing that packaging intended for hazardous domestic products (cleaning and maintenance products commonly found in the home, such as detergents, disinfectants, degreasing and descaling agents, etc.) must undergo.
According to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, any package containing a potentially hazardous substance or mixture on sale to the general public must be equipped with a childproof safety seal. This regulation has been in force for hazardous domestic products – which are considered ‘mixtures’ in the remit of this regulation – since 1st June 2015.
The testing methods and requirements for these types of childproof safety seals are laid down in the UNE-EN ISO 8317 and UNE-EN 862 standards.
Applus+ has more than 20 years’ experience carrying out safety-seal tests that meet these standards. With the broadening of its ENAC accreditation, Applus+ becomes the very first Spanish laboratory able to offer such testing with ISO 17025 accreditation, thereby ensuring international recognition in this area.
Such accreditation is, moreover, a prerequisite for the compliance of these products with European regulations.
Child and adult testing panels
The aim of the tests covered by the above two standards is to evaluate packaging equipped with childproof safety seals. Such packaging should resist opening by a child under the age of 52 months and, at the same time, be accessible to adults. The two most complex scenarios are put to the test: children at the upper end of this age range (to ensure that they cannot access the contents of the container) as well as elderly people (to ensure that they can).
The Applus+ packaging laboratory
Applus+ Laboratories has a vast experience in conducting tests on packaging, ranging from simulations to assess packaging behaviour over the course of the full transportation and distribution cycle through to accredited tests resulting in the type approval of packaging intended for hazardous goods (containers for chemical substances).