Child Safety for Corded Blinds: ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022 and EN 13120 Explained

Child Safety for Corded Blinds: ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022 and EN 13120 Explained

Short answer: the operating cord is the single most regulated feature of an interior blind, and the rules tightened materially in 2024. In the US, the revised ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022 standard took effect on 1 June 2024 and eliminates free-hanging operating cords and tilt cords on custom, made-to-order window coverings — not only on stock products. In Europe, EN 13120 governs the same risk through a different mechanism: cord length limits, mandatory safety devices, and breakaway components designed to separate under load. If you import, specify or resell blinds, the operating system is a compliance decision before it is a convenience one.

### Why this is regulated so heavily

A looped or free-hanging cord within a child's reach is a strangulation hazard, and the incidents that drove these standards involved very young children in ordinary domestic rooms. Both the US and European frameworks are attempts to design the hazard out of the product rather than manage it with a warning label — which is why the direction of travel in both regions is the same: towards cordless, towards inaccessible cords, and towards shorter cords where a cord remains.

### The US framework: ANSI/WCMA A100.1

The standard is developed by the Window Covering Manufacturers Association in coordination with the CPSC. The important change for specifiers:

• The 2022 revision took effect 1 June 2024.

• It eliminates free-hanging operating cords, free-hanging tilt cords, and multiple cords entering a single cord connector on custom, made-to-order products.

• Earlier revisions had already addressed stock products; the 2022 revision is what closed the custom-product route.

The practical consequence for a distributor: a corded product that was legitimately sellable as a custom order before mid-2024 may not be compliant now. If your catalogue or your supplier's product data predates that change, it needs re-checking rather than assuming.

#### What compliant operation looks like

| System|How it works|Notes| | ---|---|---| | Cordless (spring/lift assist)|Push up / pull down on the bottom rail|The simplest compliant answer for most residential sizes| | Motorised|Motor with remote, wall switch or app|The default on large or high units; also solves reach| | Wand / rod control|Rigid wand tilts or traverses|Common on verticals and venetians| | Retractable or inaccessible cord|Cord is short, tensioned, or held out of reach|Requires the tension device to be installed correctly — an uninstalled tension device is a defeated safety feature|

### The European framework: EN 13120

EN 13120 (with the related EN 16433 and EN 16434 test standards) approaches the same hazard through requirements on cords and safety devices rather than an outright elimination of the corded product. Reported requirements in the standard family include maximum cord lengths, mandatory safety devices such as tensioners and cleats, breakaway components specified to separate under a defined load, and multilingual warning labelling.

The US CPSC's own rulemaking documentation, when comparing international approaches, concluded that ANSI/WCMA-2018 was more stringent than the European EN 13120 / EN 16433 / EN 16434 set and the Australian regulation. That is a useful orientation point for importers: a product engineered for the current US standard will usually satisfy the European requirements, but the reverse cannot be assumed.

### What this means when you are buying

1. Ask which standard and which revision the product is certified to."Child safe" is a marketing phrase; "ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022" is a specification. For EU markets, ask for the EN 13120 declaration.

2. Check that the certification covers the configuration you are ordering. A cordless version being compliant does not make the corded version of the same model compliant.

3. Confirm what ships in the box. Tension devices, cleats, warning labels in the required languages, and installation instructions are part of compliance, not accessories. A blind that arrives without its tension device cannot be installed compliantly.

4. Match the market. If you sell into both the US and EU, verify against both frameworks rather than assuming one certificate travels.

5. Consider the operating system before the aesthetic. Cordless spring systems have size and weight limits; very large or heavy blinds usually need motorisation. Discovering this after the fabric is chosen wastes a specification round.

### Design implications people miss

Cordless is not automatically the right answer at every size. Spring-assisted cordless systems have practical weight limits; beyond them the blind becomes hard to operate and the mechanism wears. On tall or wide units, motorisation is both the compliant and the functional answer.

High and out-of-reach windows change the calculation. A window that no child can reach still needs a compliant product if the standard applies to the product category — but it also creates an operational problem, which is the usual argument for motorising stairwell and high-level glazing.

Commercial and hospitality projects are not exempt from thinking about this. Even where a specific standard applies to residential products, hotels and serviced apartments host children, and the reputational exposure of a corded hazard in a guest room is not worth the saving.

### What to ask any supplier

1. "Which standard and revision is this certified to, and can I see the certificate?"

2. "Does the certification cover the exact configuration, size range and control type I am ordering?"

3. "What ships with the product for compliance — tension devices, labels, multilingual instructions?"

4. "What is the maximum size for the cordless system before motorisation is required?"

5. "For EU orders, is the EN 13120 declaration available, and are labels supplied in the required languages?"

6. "If a cord is present, what is its length and what breakaway or tension device is fitted?"

### Frequently asked questions

Are corded blinds banned in the US? Not universally — but the 2022 revision, effective June 2024, eliminated free-hanging operating and tilt cords on custom made-to-order products, which is what most made-to-measure blinds are. In practice, the compliant catalogue is now predominantly cordless, motorised or inaccessible-cord.

Is a warning label enough? No. Both frameworks require design measures; labelling supplements them. Treat any supplier who offers labelling as the primary safety measure with caution.

Does the standard apply to shutters? Plantation shutters operated by hand or wand have no operating cord and sit outside the cord hazard entirely, which is one of their practical advantages in children's rooms.

We are shipping to several markets — what is the safe default? Specifying to the stricter of the applicable standards, and confirming labelling and documentation per destination, is the approach that avoids re-work. Motorised or cordless operation is the common denominator that satisfies both frameworks.

Written by the engineering team at GRAND HOMEDECOR (Guangdong Grand Homedecor Technology Co., Ltd.). Standard references above are provided for orientation and are not legal advice — confirm current requirements for your destination market. Compliance documentation for our interior blind range is available on request.