CPSC Lifts Testing/Certification Stay for Youth ATVs

Comments are due by September 27, 2010.

Testing/Certification Required for Manufactures after Nov 26

CPSC states that publication of this notice effectively lifts the stay of enforcement of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act testing and certification requirements that had been stayed for 16 CFR Part 1420 since February 2009.³

Specifically, each domestic manufacturer or importer⁴ of youth ATVs manufactured after November 26, 2010, must have these products tested by a CPSC accredited lab and issue a certificate of compliance with 16 CFR Part 1420 based on that testing. CPSC adds that under the CPSIA, it may extend this period by not more than 60 days if it determines that an insufficient number of third-party labs have been accredited to allow for such testing and certification.

Lead content remains stayed. Note that CPSC’s separate stay of enforcement of the lead content provisions of the CPSIA for certain component parts of youth ATVs, off-road motorcycles, and snowmobiles is still scheduled to remain in effect until May 1, 2011. CPSC sources add that it may extend this stay with regard to all or some of the vehicles. See ITT’s Online Archives or 05/12/09 news, 09051215, for BP summary of the 2 year stay for lead content of youth ATVs.)

All Labs Must be ILAC-MRA Accredited, Etc.

See notice for details of the lab accreditation requirements which are substantially similar to previously issued CPSC lab accreditation requirements, including that:

• labs must be ILAC-MRA⁵ accredited and the scope of their accreditation must explicitly include testing for compliance with 16 CFR Part 1640;

• firewalled labs (owned, managed or controlled by a manufacturer or private labeler) and governmental labs (owned or controlled in whole or in part by a government) must meet additional criteria to be accredited.

Limited Acceptance of Prior Testing

CPSC will accept a certificate of compliance with 16 CFR Parts 1640 based on testing performed by a third-party lab prior to CPSC’s acceptance of its accreditation provided that a list of specific requirements are met, including that the lab is accredited by CPSC on or before October 26, 2010; the testing occurred on or after November 4, 2008; etc. (See notice for details.)

Once Accredited for Youth ATVs, Labs Can Begin Testing

CPSC maintains an up-to-date listing of test labs whose accreditations it has accepted and the scope of each accreditation (i.e, the specific children’s product safety rule for which that lab can test). Once the CPSC adds a lab to that list, the lab may begin testing to support certification.

¹The ANSI/SVIA 1--2007 standard (which is incorporated into 16 CFR Part 1420) identifies a usage category of Y (Youth Model) ATVs that consists of three subcategories: (a) Category Y--6+, for youth model ATVs intended for use by children age 6 or older; (b) Category Y--10+, for youth model ATVs intended for use by children age 10 or older; and (c) Category Y--12+, for youth model ATVs intended for use by children age 12 or older. For the purposes of this notice, the term “youth” ATVs at a minimum refers to categories (a) and (b). In determining whether a youth ATV is a children’s product, CPSC will be guided by the statutory factors listed at section 3(a)(2)(A) through (D) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). Such a determination will indicate whether a given Category Y--12+ ATV is intended primarily for children age 12 or younger, which would necessitate the third party testing and certification requirements of the CPSIA.

²16 CFR Part 1420 incorporates by reference the applicable provisions of the American National Standard for Four Wheel All-Terrain Vehicles, ANSI/SVIA 1--2007. Requirements for All Terrain Vehicles.

³The CPSIA requires CPSC to issue third-party lab accreditation requirements for children’s product safety rules. It also requires products subject to these rules which are manufactured 90 days after publication of the lab accreditation requirements to be tested by a CPSC-accredited third-party lab and certified as meeting those requirements. However, in February and December of 2009, CPSC decided to stay enforcement of the CPSIA testing and certification requirements for 16 CFR Part 1420, as it had not yet issued lab accreditation requirements for these regulations. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/02/09 and 12/29/09 news, 09020205 and 09122920, for BP summaries of CPSC’s stay.)

⁴The CPSIA states that manufacturers (which includes importers) and private labelers of children’s products must issue certificates of conformity based on testing by a third-party lab, but CPSC has interpreted the certification requirement as affecting domestic manufacturers (in the case of domestic products) and importers (in the case of imported products).

⁵International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation-Mutual Recognition Arrangement

CPSC contact -- Richard McCallion rmccallion@cpsc.gov.

(FR Pub 08/26/10, D/N CPSC-2010-0090)