Children’s Products Covered by Product Safety Law Defined in CPSC Final Rule

(World Trade Interactive)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final interpretative rule that provides additional guidance on the factors considered when evaluating what is a children’s product covered by the requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.

The CPSIA defined “children’s product” as a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. This law also specifies certain factors that are to be taken into consideration when making a determination about whether a consumer product meets this definition, including the manufacturer’s intended use of the product; the packaging, display, promotion and advertising of the product; consumer perception; and the CPSC’s Age Determination Guidelines. Read more here.

CPSC Outlines Lead Ban Exemptions for Children’s Electronic Devices

(World Trade Interactive)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule concerning certain electronic devices for which it is not technologically feasible to meet the limits on lead content in children’s products.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 provides that as of Aug. 14, 2009, products designed or intended primarily for children 12 and younger may not contain more than 300 ppm of lead. This limit will be further reduced to 100 ppm as of Aug. 14, 2011, unless the CPSC determines that it is not technologically feasible to meet this lower limit. The CPSIA further provides that these lead limits do not apply to component parts of a product that are not accessible to a child; i.e., parts that are not physically exposed by reason of a sealed covering or casing and do not become physically exposed through reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of the product, including swallowing, mouthing, breaking or other children’s activities, as well as the aging of the product. Paint, coatings or electroplating may not be considered to be a barrier that would render lead in the substrate to be inaccessible to a child. Read more here.

CPSC Delays Lead Testing Enforcement

(The Associated Press – Jennifer C. Kerr)

Makers of toys and other children’s products won a reprieve Thursday from federal regulators trying to implement legislation Congress passed more than a year ago after a holiday season marred by scores of lead-tainted toy recalls. The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to delay for another year – until February 2011 – the certification and independent third-party testing rules on the amount of lead allowed in children’s products. Those rules were set to kick-in last February but have been delayed twice.

Manufacturers and importers still must test their products to make sure they’re safe and meet federal limits on lead. But the commission’s decision late Thursday means they won’t have to produce compliance certificates and perform third-party testing for now, though many are already doing so at retailers’ requests.

Even so, the commission’s action was aimed at giving businesses more time to comply with the many additional requirements spelled out in the 2008 product safety law. “The extension of the stay was needed in order to give the agency more time to promulgate rules,” CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said in a statement. Read more here.