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CPSC Posts Approved 15 Month Testing and Labeling, Part Testing, & Database Proposed Rules

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted three approved proposed rules which are pending publication in the Federal Register: the proposed “15 Month rule”1 on testing and labeling pertaining to product certification, the related proposed rule on component part testing, and the proposed rule on a publicly available consumer product safety information database.

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[See ITT’s Online Archives or 05/06/10 news, (Ref: 10050610), for BP summary of Commission revisions made to the “15 Month” and component testing proposed rules during its May 5, 2010 meeting. For the “15 Month” rule, these revisions included dropping the verification requirement.]

“15 Month” Testing and Labeling Proposed Rule

The “15 Month” proposed rule on testing and labeling would establish requirements for reasonable testing programs and for compliance and continuing testing for children's products. It would also address labeling of consumer products to show that the product complies with certification requirements under a reasonable testing program for non-children's products or under compliance and continuing testing for children's products.

As the proposed rule would implement section l4(a) and (d) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), as amended by section 102(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), it addresses many of the most important aspects of the CPSIA.

[See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/09/10 news, (Ref: 10040905), for BP summary of the draft proposed “15 Month” rule prior to its May 5 revisions.]

Component Testing Proposed Rule

CPSC’s related proposed rule on component testing would establish the conditions and requirements for testing of component parts of consumer products to demonstrate, in whole or in part, compliance of a consumer product with all applicable rules, bans, standards, and regulations:

  • to support a general conformity certificate or a certificate for a children's product pursuant to section 14(a) of the CPSA;
  • as part of a reasonable testing program pursuant to section 14(a) of the CPSA;
  • as part of the standards and protocols for continued testing of children's products pursuant to section 14(d) (2) of the CPSA; and/or
  • to meet the requirements of any other rule, ban, standard, guidance, policy, or protocol regarding consumer product testing that does not already directly address component part testing.

[See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/14/10 news, (Ref: 10041415), for BP summary of the draft proposed rule on component testing prior to its May 5 revisions.]

Public Database Proposed Rule

The third proposed rule would establish a publicly available consumer product safety information database as required by the CPSIA. It would interpret various statutory requirements pertaining to the information to be included in the database and establish provisions regarding submitting reports of harm; providing notice of reports of harm to manufacturers; publishing reports of harm and manufacturer comments in the database; and dealing with confidential and materially inaccurate information.

[See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/06/10 news, (Ref: 10040620), for BP summary of the draft database proposed rule.]

See future issues of ITT for BP summaries of these proposed rules upon publication in the Federal Register.

1CPSC often refers to this as its “15 month” rule since it was meant to be issued 15 months after enactment of the CPSIA -- or by November 2009.

CPSC “15 Month” testing and labeling proposed rule available at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/testlabelNPRdraft.pdf

CPSC component testing proposed rule available at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/compartsNPRdraft.pdf

CPSC public database proposed rule available at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/databaseNPRdraft.pdf