CPSC Launches Registry for Small Batch Children’s Product Manufacturers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, CPSC is launching an easy-to-use registry for small batch manufacturers, which can be found at http://www.SaferProducts.gov. Congress directed CPSC to establish this registry for small batch manufacturers in Public Law 112-28, which was signed into law by President Obama on August 12, 2011.

Small batch manufacturers, defined as those who earned $1 million or less in total gross revenues from sales of consumer products in 2011, and who produced in total no more than 7,500 units of at least one consumer product in 2011 can register for calendar year 2012 at http://www.SaferProducts.gov. Qualifying small batch manufacturers are not required to third party test for compliance with certain children’s product safety rules during 2012 for products which they produced no more than 7,500 units of in the previous calendar year.

This new registry does not exempt small batch manufacturers from ensuring that their products comply with these mandatory standards. Small batch manufacturers must still provide a certificate of conformity, in which the manufacturers certify in writing that their products comply with the applicable regulations. However, except where required by law, the certificate does not have to be based on third party testing.

Effective December 31, 2011, the stays of enforcement on third-party testing and certification for limits on total lead content for children’s products, the ban on certain phthalates for children’s toys and child care articles, and the mandatory toy standard (ASTM F963) will end. CPSC launched an education and outreach effort to ensure widespread awareness of the new federal requirements and has also provided assistance and guidance to small batch manufacturers to help them understand these new requirements.

For additional information on the Small Batch Manufacturers Registry and small batch guidance materials, please see http://www.cpsc.gov/smallbatch. You may also contact our small business ombudsman Neal Cohen at ncohen@cpsc.gov or through http://www.cpsc.gov/sbo

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which added certification and testing requirements for all products subject to CPSC standards or bans.
Significant to makers of children’s products, the vote by the Commission provides limited relief from the testing and certification requirements which go into effect on February 10, 2009 for new total lead content limits (600 ppm), phthalates limits for certain products (1000 ppm), and mandatory toy standards, among other things. Manufacturers and importers – large and small – of children’s products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements.
The decision by the Commission gives the staff more time to finalize four proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is to be conducted.
The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.
The stay does not apply to:

Four requirements for third-party testing and certification of certain children’s products subject to:

The ban on lead in paint and other surface coatings effective for products made after December 21, 2008;

The standards for full-size and non full-size cribs and pacifiers effective for products made after January 20, 2009;

The ban on small parts effective for products made after February 15, 2009; and

The limits on lead content of metal components of children’s jewelry effective for products made after March 23, 2009.

Certification requirements applicable to ATV’s manufactured after April 13, 2009.

Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for: automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool slides; and

Pool drain cover requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act.

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.
Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.
The stay of enforcement on testing and certification does not address thrift and second hand stores and small retailers because they are not required to test and certify products under the CPSIA. The products they sell, including those in inventory on February 10, 2009, must not contain more than 600 ppm lead in any accessible part. The Commission is aware that it is difficult to know whether a product meets the lead standard without testing and has issued guidance for these companies that can be found on our Web site.
The Commission trusts that State Attorneys General will respect the Commission’s judgment that it is necessary to stay certain testing and certification requirements and will focus their own enforcement efforts on other provisions of the law, e.g. the sale of recalled products.
Please visit the CPSC Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html for more information on all of the efforts being made to successfully implement the CPSIA.

i work for said bank and we had a guy that came to work with his shoes on the wrong feet. not once, but twice. so yeah, you do need to get that tested.

By Denise Yost
Managing Editor, nbc4i.com
Published: January 9, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Toy and clothing manufacturers face tough penalties next month if lead is found in any of their products.

A new law meant to protect consumers also created a lot of fear and confusion about toys found in small resale and consignment stores, NBC 4‘s Candice Lee reported.

Ann Bush-Cassady has been in the resale-consignment business for more than 18 years. Selling gently used toys makes up 20 to 25 percent of her sales.

“We sell a lot of toys. We sell them inexpensively. People like to pick them up for their children on the way out the door,“ she said.

Her lucrative business almost hit a road block, thanks to language in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which goes into effect Feb. 10.

At first glance, the act would have required resale and consignment shops to test every toy and stitch of clothing for lead.

“Depending on the type of test they ran, it was going to be $70 and up per piece,“ she said.

But the Consumer Product Safety Commission clarified the law Friday:

It is illegal to sell any children’s product containing more than 600 parts per million of lead.

Items with more than .1 percent of phthalates are banned.

Manufacturers must certify that their goods meet safety guidelines.

The law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance; however stores must do their research. If they resell such products, they face civil and/or criminal penalties.

USCA 15 Section 2052(a)(2) Children’s product
The term “children’s product” means a consumer product designed or intended for children 12 years of age or younger. In determining whether a consumer product intended for a child 12 years of age or younger, the following factors shall govern
(A) A statement by a manufacturer about the intended use of such product and a label on such product if such statement is reasonable.
(B) Whether the product is represented in its packaging, display, promotion, or advertising as appropriate for use by children 12 years of age or younger.
(C)Whether the product is commonly recognized by consumers as being intended for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.
(D) The Age Determination Guildelines issued by the Commission staff in September 2002, and any successor to such guidelines.

This follows the same ridiculous logic of the church lady getting in trouble for giving cakes to friends or whatever that story was. It’s just sad that we’ve legislated ourselves to this point :(

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The Commission has not released any such list of specific products or materials that will be excluded, so for now, everyone has to assume this law is going to effect them.

I also read that each component of your product has to be tested, so that if you make a toy with fabric, cotton, buttons, you have to test each one of those.

Personally, I think if the government is not going to put reasonable exclusions on this law, I think they should substantially lower the cost of the lead testing. Or perhaps if your business is small enough, you pay next to nothing for the testing.

http://wjz.com/consumer/toy.makers.costs.2.894585.html

http://www.mgwashington.com/index.php/news/article/mom-and-pop-toymakers-fear-new-testing-regulations/2274/

http://consumerist.com/5117450/new-toy-safety-rule-has-collateral-damage-handmade-toy-manufacturers

I’ve not read all the way through it myself, but it sounds like the additional testing requirements are going to add overhead to small crafters that won’t be able to afford the costs for testing.

Hopefully I’m wrong though.