ASTM is a mandatory certification for toy testing in the United States, and any toy product exported to the United States requires ASTM testing. ASTM F963 is an American toy testing standard developed under the auspices of the National Bureau of Standards of the United States Department of Commerce. At present, the latest version is ASTM F963-17 and has become a mandatory standard on September 1, 2017.

The specific content of the ASTM F963 standard for toy safety testing in the United States:

1. Added some reference materials related to food and cosmetics, mainly standard methods for microbiological testing, and supplemented CFTA's M-1, M-2, M-3, and M-6 methods; Method 61, Method 62, and Chapter 1231 of USP Volume 35 of the United States Pharmacopoeia; FDA's Microbial Analysis Handbook.

2. Supplement the key instructions inadvertently omitted in the 2016 version regarding the requirements for ejection toys, stating that KED (kinetic energy density) is only applicable to ejection and arrow toys with kinetic energy exceeding 0.08J.

3. Revised some testing details related to low-power circuits in the detection of electric toys.

4. Supplement and clarify that deterministic push-pull toys do not belong to floor toys.



According to the requirements of the directive, Uni Testing points out that toys must comply with all the requirements of ASTM F 963-17 (except for the following requirements):

1. According to Article 4.2 (combustion) of ASTM F 963 and Appendix 5 (flammability test of solid and Stuffed toy) of Article 106 (a) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act 2008 (CPSIA), the mandatory standards or any clauses proposed by the ASTM F963 standard issued by the Commission or regulations, and the regulations or clauses described in the standard issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are not mandatory.

2. According to regulation 16CFR 1250, ASTM F 963-17 clause 8.20.1.5 (5) requires the use of a test method for drag toys (this requirement is excluded in ASTM F 963-17 standard 8.20.1.5 (5) for drag toys).


The main content of ASTM F963 testing is divided into three parts:

1. Physical and mechanical properties

2. Combustion performance

3. Chemical properties


The requirements for physical and mechanical properties mainly involve impact tests, drop tests, tensile tests for component removal, pressure tests, deflection tests, and so on.


The flammability test procedure for toys follows the requirements of 16CFR 1500.44, which involves horizontal combustion of the toy and stipulates that the self combustion speed along the main axis after the toy catches fire should be 2.5mm/s lower.


Chemical performance testing involves testing the migration of eight heavy metals and the total lead content. Unlike EN71-3, ASTM F963 has added testing for total lead, but only requires surface coatings for materials.