The Toy Association™ Addresses Global Product Safety at International Symposium
March 6, 2025 | Toy Association staff attended and led a panel discussion at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO)’s 2025 Annual Meeting & Training Symposium. The international symposium, which took place February 16 to 20 in Orlando, Florida, brought together product safety professionals from around the world to discuss product safety compliance in the ever-changing global marketplace.
The Toy Association™ attended the symposium for the 32nd consecutive year as one of the founding members of ICPHSO, with staff invited to speak on sessions during the conference. Joan Lawrence, senior vice president of standards and regulatory affairs at The Toy Association and a former president of ICPHSO, moderated the “Women Leaders in Product Safety” plenary forum, which featured a panel of seasoned product safety professionals providing insights and key takeaways on building a career as a product safety leader.
“The ICPHSO Annual Symposium serves as a critical framework to bring together product safety professionals from around the world to learn and share best practices to support the common goal of safeguarding consumers on a global scale,” Lawrence said. “For The Toy Association, it also provides a valuable platform for dialogue and collaboration with members, regulators, advocacy groups, test laboratories, and other stakeholders related to toys, as well as discussion and information sharing with like-minded groups across other industries.”
Additional sessions included presentations from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Health Canada, the European Commission, the UK Office of Product Safety and Standards, other regulators, and more key stakeholders, in addition to The Toy Association. Keynote speeches were provided by Google, National Consumers League (NCL), The TIC Council (representing the testing, inspection and certification industry), and Five Below. Among the many topics covered over the four days included e-filing methods, PFAS, EPR (extended producer responsibility), and the use of AI, plus panel discussions on increased product safety regulation in U.S. states, comparisons of approaches to standards (in the U.S., European Union and China), and comparisons of global regulators (representing four jurisdictions on three continents).
Created in 1993, ICPHSO is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on health and safety issues related to consumer products manufactured and marketed in the global marketplace. ICPHSO members represent U.S. and global government agencies, manufacturers, importers, retailers, trade associations, certification/testing laboratories, law firms, academia, standards writing organizations, consultants, media, and consumer advocacy groups.