Understanding CPSIA
A legislative column by JPMA
Mike Dwyer -- Kids Today, 2/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
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| Mike Dwyer |
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) was signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 14, 2008. This legislation, also known as H.R. 4040, has very serious implications for the juvenile products industry.
The CPSIA requires manufacturers, retailers, and importers to subject toys and other nursery products to performance testing and to certify that they have passed strict mandatory U.S. safety standards before they hit store shelves. The law is effective upon enactment, but prospective according to various dates when provisions (i.e., lead, phthalates, testing and certification, tracking information, advertising restrictions) go into effect.
Beginning Feb. 10, 2009, the CPSIA prohibits persons from manufacturing for sale, offering for sale, distributing in commerce, or importing into the United States “children’s toys” and “child care articles” containing more than 0.1% of the following phthalates: DEHP, DBP, or BBP. In addition, beginning on Feb. 10 and effective until a final rule is promulgated, CPSIA also places an interim ban on any children’s toy or child care article that contains more than 0.1% of DINP, DIDP, or DnOP. The ban on the six specified phthalates only applies to products that are manufactured on or after Feb. 10, 2009.
The CPSIA also imposes a reduction of lead levels in the substrate of children’s products, beginning Feb. 10 to 660 parts per million (ppm). Furthermore, beginning Aug. 14, 2009, the CPSIA lowers the existing restrictions on lead in children’s products to 300 ppm and in paint and surface coatings to 90 ppm. The CPSC has issued an advisory opinion stating that the lead in substrates and lead in paint provisions are “retroactive,” and apply to products “offered for sale” on Feb. 10, 2009 (for lead limits) and Aug. 14, 2009 (for lead in paint limits), regardless of when the product was manufactured.
CPSIA also provides that the requirements for cautionary statements in advertising on printed materials is effective on Feb. 10 but allows the CPSC to delay the effective date until Aug. 9, 2009. The CPSC chose to delay the effective date in the final rule issued on Nov. 17. During this grace period, catalogs and other printed materials printed prior to Feb. 10 may be distributed without the required cautionary statements. Catalogs and other printed materials that are printed on or after Feb. 10 must bear the required cautionary statements. All catalogs and other printed materials distributed on or after Aug. 9, 2009 must comply with the rule, regardless of when they were printed.
Also beginning 180 days after enactment, Feb. 10, 2009, ASTM F963-07 (the “Toy Standard”) shall be considered a consumer product safety standard issued by the Commission. Exceptions to this are Section 4.2 and Annex 4 regarding flammability, as well as any provision that restates or incorporates any existing mandatory standards.
For more information about CPSIA, visit www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html or www.jpma.org.
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