The national mandatory standard GB 43469-2023 ‘Portable In-flight Child Restraint Devices’, which is under the purview of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), was formally released on 27th November 2023, and will be implemented on 1st December 2024, which is the first version of China's national standard for portable in-flight child restraint devices.

The National Standard for Portable In-flight Child Restraint Devices is a national standard for children's products used in civil aviation systems in China, proposed by the Civil Aviation Science and Technology Research Institute of China (CASRIC), with a draft version of the standard provided by EQO Testing and Certification, and independently undertaking the work of the standard's technical clauses and the validation of the testing methods. In the process of developing the standard, EQOand CASRIC jointly organised the validation and revision of the standard. The company played a leading role in the development of this national standard.

Purpose and significance

With the development of China's civil aviation industry, a large number of child passengers appear in civil aircraft, but the aircraft passenger seat is designed according to the adult body type, its structure and design are not suitable for children, so it can not provide effective protection for infants and young children during take-off and landing of the aircraft as well as other abnormal activities, the introduction of the standard for aviation child restraints and forward-facing transport aircraft passenger seating system size compatibility provides a The standard provides guidance on the dimensional compatibility of aviation child restraints and forward-facing transport aircraft passenger seat systems so that aviation child restraints can be securely fitted to passenger seats by means of a lumbar restraint on the passenger seat.

It also achieves the purpose of protecting child passengers in the event of an emergency landing of an aircraft by specifying dynamic test methods and evaluation criteria for the performance of aviation child restraints. The use of aviation child safety devices complying with the standard can provide sufficient protection for children during travelling on an aircraft, which can reduce the degree of injury of child occupants during air transport and reduce child mortality.

Scope and main technical content

The standard only focuses on the safety devices for child occupants in civil aviation, and mainly regulates the contour dimensions and the technical indexes of dynamic testing of the safety devices, as well as the chemical hazards, and the limited requirements for some chemical elements affecting children's health.