A Manufacturer's Guide to Exporting Children's Jewelry to Canada

Canada, like many other countries and regions such as the USA and the EU, has regulations regarding the safety of products sold on its domestic market. The safety requirements of children's jewelry in Canada are codified in the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA) and in the Children’s Jewellery Regulations.

In this article, we will examine the following vital questions that you must know the answers to if you are considering exporting children jewelry to Canada:

• What jewelry is considered "children's jewelry"?
• What must such jewelry be tested for?
• How should these tests be performed?

What is Children's Jewelry?

Children's jewelry is a sub-set of jewelry, a larger product category defined in Canadian law as follows:

• Any decorative item intended for regular wear on the body, or on clothing or clothing accessories.

This can include some items that most people may not immediately think of when they imagine jewelry, such as decorative pulls on zippers, or items worn on the shoes, such as lucky charms. However, items that perform a function are NOT considered jewelry. These include:

• Watches
• Belt buckles
• Buttons (that serve as fasteners and are not purely decorative)
• Hair clips

While these items must still comply with CCPSA regulations, they are not required to conform to the more stringent children's jewelry regulations.

In order to fall under the Children's Jewelry Regulations, any item meeting the above definition of jewelry must also be manufactured, sized, decorated, packaged, advertised or sold in a such a way that appeals mainly to children under 15 years old.

Indicators that an item of jewelry would be considered as children's jewelry include, but are not limited to the following:

• The jewelry contains figures or designs from children's entertainment
• The jewelry is designed in such a way that it can be used as a toy
• The size of the jewelry makes it unlikely that adults would wear it, e.g. a ring that is too small to fit an adult’s finger
• The value of the jewelry makes it unlikely that an adult would wear it
• The jewelry is sold with products marketed to children
• The jewelry is sold in locations where children are likely to buy it, e.g. schools, or a child's vending machine.

What Are the Legal Requirements for Children's Jewelry?

Once that you have established that your product falls under the Canadian definition of children's jewelry, you must ensure that the jewelry meets both of the following requirements with regard to lead content:

1. Must not contain more than 600 mg/kg of total lead. This is a requirement regarding the total amount (by weight) of lead present in the jewelry. It applies even if the lead is completely sealed within the item and is inaccessible in normal use (i.e. is part of an internal component of the jewelry).
2. Must not contain more than 90 mg/kg of migratable lead.

This is a requirement regarding the amount of lead that is released when the jewelry is brought into contact with a liquid, such as body sweat when worn, saliva if the item is placed into mouth, or other bodily fluids if swallowed.

Testing for the Presence of Lead

The only way to reliably meet these requirements is to have your jewelry tested in an accredited laboratory with the equipment and expertise to perform the tests according to the Canadian standards and regulations.

Here at QIMA, we are able to perform all necessary tests to check the lead content of your jewelry, in accordance with the Canadian test standards.

QIMA has three in-house laboratories and a large network of partners in over 120 countries around the world. Get in contact with one of our laboratory testing specialists today and get your jewelry ready for import into Canada.