Code of conduct for BCIA members and babywearing industry standards

The BCIA strives to be a leader in both setting and meeting babywearing industry standards. In that spirit, our board and staff keep our core values front-of-mind in the work we do with and for small baby carrier businesses.

  • We promote the value of baby carrier use
  • We propagate standards across the industry, such as the ASTM sling standard and the ISO baby carrier standard
  • We support and promote educational outreach
  • We participate in research and keep abreast of the latest information related to babywearing
  • We help small businesses comply with babywearing industry standards
Babywearing industry standards dog catching ball in air

Babywearing educators, baby carrier manufacturers and resellers, and all other BCIA members agree to follow the BCIA code of conduct

  1. All industry members will conduct business in a manner consistent with the core values of the BCIA. Each BCIA member commits to these babywearing industry standards, recognizing that one’s actions reflect on the industry as a whole.
  2. Member manufacturers, distributors, and retailer stores show a good faith effort to:
    • Comply with the regulations of their country of business and their markets of sale (ex. CPSIA) and to adhere to relevant ASTM or EN standards, voluntary or mandatory
    • Prioritize safety in the workplace, particularly in manufacturing spaces
    • Pay employees and production workers a fair wage in their country of employment/ production

3. All industry members endeavor to:

    • Accept cultural and heritage-based babywearing practices (don’t exoticize, tokenize, misappropriate). Recognize babywearing as a living tradition
    • Conduct business in a way that is inclusive of/ recognizes needs of caregivers of diverse identity and physical characteristics (including ethnicity or race, religion, gender identity, sexual preference, family structure, body modification, mental or physical health and disability)

4. All industry members show a good faith effort to manage their business interactions with integrity and respectful deportment including but not limited to:

    • Respect for the creative design, intellectual property rights, copyrigh,t and cultural practices of others
    • Conducts business respectfully and fairly when interacting with vendors, employees, media and customers

5. Professional educators and those involved in outreach and/or product education endeavor to:

    • Obtain consent before touching another person
    • Distinguish between optimal, acceptable, and unadvisable practices
    • Value safety
    • Believe babywearing is a skill that can be learned
    • Respect the child-rearing practices of all caregivers and resist imposing their personal beliefs upon another family
    • Treat caregivers as the experts on their child
    • Give babywearing information only and refer to the appropriate professionals for health and other advice (ex. primary health care providers, lactation professionals, kangaroo care experts, physiotherapy etc)
    • Seek opportunities for continuing education
    • Maintain active awareness of industry best practices

The BCIA is committed to exceeding babywearing industry standards and holding itself accountable

The BCIA is a 501(c)6 non-profit trade organization. Our organization is bound by antitrust laws in the United States (for example, Section 5 of the FTC Act), which strictly prohibits anti-competitive practice or adjudicating trade disputes. Similar competition laws exist in most of the countries where our members conduct business.

It is the policy of BCIA to comply strictly with the letter and spirit of all applicable federal, state, and international trade regulations and antitrust laws. Any activities of the BCIA or BCIA-related actions of its staff, officers, board members, committee members, volunteers or business members that violate these regulations and laws can be detrimental to the interests of BCIA and are contrary to BCIA policy.

Participation in the BCIA trade association by function brings competitors together. Accordingly, it is necessary to avoid discussions of sensitive competitive topics and to avoid recommendations with respect to such subjects. Agreements to fix prices or fees, to allocate markets, to engage in product boycotts and to refuse to deal with third parties are automatically illegal under the antitrust laws.

Resources for families and consumers

Learn more about babywearing industry standards

Resources for babywearing businesses