The truth about the booster seat law.

You don't go to a butchers for a hair cut so why rely on misinformed sources when trying to understand the booster seat law. The current law in place governing the UK & EU is the UNECE R44.04, and this will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

The BPA (Baby Products Association) are involved in the amendments to this legislation.

How does #Brexit affect this? The R44.04 regulation is a UN legislation not an EU legislation therefore it is not impacted by #Brexit.

Here is the official statement from the BPA on the amendment to the ECE regulation 44 which came in to force in January  2017.

In short, booster seats are not to be banned nor is the use of existing booster seats to change. The changes will affect manufacturers of newly designed/invented  booster seats only (which would require a new type approval to be granted before sale). Parents do not need to buy additional seats to comply with any law changes.

Booster seats and the law

There are numerous reports circulating regarding the forthcoming change to UN/ECE Regulation 44 and most of them are unfortunately incorrect.

The Baby Products Association would like to make consumers aware of the following:

• The amendment to the Regulation that deals with car seats and booster seats does not affect parents when buying or using any existing or new booster seat, irrespective of whether it is backless or high backed, provided it bears the R44.04 approval label.

• This amendment does not require parents to replace their existing booster seat whether backless or high-backed and there is no action required by the consumer to comply with this change to the booster seat legislation other than to ensure that the child rides on a booster seat on every journey.

• This new amendment really only affects manufacturers of newly designed or invented booster seats who will be required to gain safety approval (type approval) before they can sell the new product.

• Parents can continue to use backless booster seats after this introduction (anticipated to be 1st March 2017) as long as the seat is approved to Regulation 44 , which all seats must be approved to in order to be legally sold at retail in the UK.

• These changes do not ban backless booster seats as they continue to meet the regulatory requirements for safety.

For further information, contact the Baby Products Association on 0845 456 9570 or email julie@b-p-a.org.