A Matter of Lighting for Children and Adolescents | Two Mandatory Standards Will Take Effect on November 1

Effective November 1, 2026, China’s first mandatory national standard covering all categories of children’s products—“General Safety Requirements for Children’s Products” (GB 46523-2025)—will come into force. The standard establishes fundamental safety requirements addressing common risks across various types of children’s products, without replacing existing standards for children’s toys or bicycles. It focuses on preventing physical hazards such as cuts and choking, as well as harmful chemical contamination, thereby building a robust safety framework to support the healthy development of children under 14 years old.

Scope of Application

This standard applies to products designed or intended for use, play, or wearing by children aged 14 and under, including trial samples and free giveaways.

General Requirements

The “General Safety Requirements for Children’s Products” covers universal safety criteria applicable to all categories of children’s goods. However, given the unique structural features and intended uses of specific products, additional mandatory national standards may still be required for particular categories or individual items. When developing these specialized standards, it is essential to select appropriate safety requirements and testing methods based on factors such as product design, target age group, materials, mode of use, and environmental conditions.

Children’s products that do not have dedicated category-specific or item-specific mandatory national standards must comply with the requirements outlined in the “General Safety Requirements for Children’s Products.”

Key Safety Requirements of the Standard

• General Requirements: 1. Cleanliness; 2. Safety protection; 3. Appearance; 4. Unpleasant odors; 5. Products easily mistaken for food; 6. Glass and ceramic components (e.g., lamp shades); 7. Liquids (e.g., liquid‑based lighting devices); 8. Fillers; 9. Decay and insect infestation.

• Mechanical and Physical Properties: 1. Shape and dimensions; 2. Openings and gaps; 3. Edges, sharp points, and corners; 4. Hazardous protrusions; 5. Cords or loops (such as power cords for table lamps or pull‑switches); 6. Enclosed spaces; 7. Stability; 8. Structural strength and durability; 9. Moving and rotating parts; 10. Folding mechanisms; 12. Restraint systems; 14. Acoustic requirements; 15. Plastic films used in packaging and children’s products.

• Thermal Hazards and Flammability: 1. Flammability; 2. Burn risks from non‑electrical heat sources; 3. Risks of burns caused by open flames; 4. High‑ or low‑temperature hazards in enclosed spaces.

• Chemical Safety: 1. General requirements; 2. Migratory elements; 3. Plasticizers; 4. Formaldehyde; 5. Harmful aromatic amines; 6. N‑nitrosamines and their precursors; 7. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; 8. Short‑chain chlorinated paraffins.

• Electrical Safety: Basic requirements related to electricity.

• Radiation Safety: Covers ionizing radiation, electromagnetic radiation, and optical radiation.

• Explosion Hazards: Prohibits any substances or mixtures that could pose an explosion risk.

• Product Labeling: Includes safety warnings, instructions for use, assembly and maintenance guidelines, caregiver responsibilities, and age‑appropriate labeling.

Effective November 1, 2026, the “Hygiene Standard for Daylighting and Lighting in Primary and Secondary School Classrooms (GB 7793-2025)”, overseen by the National Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, will officially take effect. This mandatory national standard specifies stringent indicators such as classroom daylight uniformity, blue light levels, and flicker, creating a bright, comfortable, and safe lighting environment for students and safeguarding their future visual health.

Applicable Venues

This standard applies to classrooms, laboratories, art rooms, and other teaching spaces in regular primary and secondary schools, as well as vocational schools. It also serves as a reference for off‑campus educational institutions catering to schoolchildren.

New Requirements for Natural Daylighting

The revised standard introduces detailed specifications for natural lighting in classrooms:

• For single-sided lighting classrooms: Light should ideally enter from the left side of students’ seats to minimize hand shadows obscuring textbooks during writing.

• For double-sided lighting classrooms: Prioritize the left side of students’ seats as the primary light source.

• For north-facing classrooms with south‑facing corridors: Use north‑facing windows as the main light source.

• Set unified requirements for the window-to-floor area ratio (for new constructions), daylight coefficient, and glass color transmittance index.

• Prefer white or light-colored wall and ceiling finishes to promote more even, softer indoor illumination while reducing glare and visual discomfort.

Comprehensive Upgrade of Artificial Lighting

The updated standard not only meets basic lighting needs but also places greater emphasis on comfort, stability, and safety of classroom lighting.

• More balanced brightness: Maintain an average illuminance of no less than 300 lx on desks, with an illuminance uniformity of at least 0.7; ensure an average illuminance of no less than 500 lx on writing boards, with an illuminance uniformity of at least 0.8. In simpler terms, this means striving for overall balanced lighting throughout the classroom, minimizing disparities between front and back rows, and alleviating eye strain associated with prolonged reading and writing.

• More realistic colors: Classroom lighting fixtures must meet the new standard’s requirements for color temperature and color rendering, delivering moderate warm–cool tones and accurate color reproduction without yellowish or bluish distortions, faithfully reproducing the original hues of books and teaching aids.

• Enhanced blue‑light safety (a key highlight): Blue‑light hazard classes for general classroom lighting fixtures must achieve RG0 exemption level. Under normal operating conditions, this helps reduce potential ocular impacts from blue light, better accommodating students’ extended periods of classroom learning.

• More stable lighting: Strictly control fluctuations in light flicker, eliminating subtle, hard‑to‑detect light variations that can cause eye fatigue and visual discomfort during prolonged seated study sessions.

In addition, the revised standard mandates regular inspections, cleaning, and maintenance of classroom lighting equipment, requiring timely replacement of aging or damaged fixtures to prevent inadequate illumination due to equipment deterioration. Through standardized, routine management practices, the standard ensures consistently compliant and stable lighting conditions in school teaching spaces, providing comprehensive protection for young people’s visual health.

Source: China Lighting Fixture Association