CPSC Votes July 20 on Phthalates Enforcement, Toy Standards Testing
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is scheduled to vote on July 20, 2011 on two notices concerning children’s products. The first is a phthalates enforcement policy. The second notice would establish the requirements for third-party labs to be accredited to test children’s toys pursuant to the ASTM toy standards, F 963-08 (all toys) and section 4.27 from ASTM F 963-07ε1 (on toy chests) and trigger the third-party testing and certification requirements for toys.
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Phthalates Policy May Exclude Certain Materials from CPSIA Testing/Certification
CPSC has not made a draft of the phthalates enforcement policy publically available. However, based on a July 6 Commission meeting, the policy as discussed appears to list numerous types of materials that are not considered to have phthalates and that CPSC would therefore exempt from the third-party testing and certification requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
There was also discussion of allowing certain other exemptions and allowing manufacturers and importers to “self-certify” that they did not add phthalates to a particular children’s product and in such cases, not requiring third-party testing and certification for phthalates for that product.
Toy Notice Would Trigger Testing & Certification, Petition Was Submitted to Delay It
If published as drafted, the lab accreditation notice for the ASTM toy standards would require toys manufactured 90 days after publication to be third-party tested and certified by the domestic manufacturer or importer as complying with the toy standards (with certain listed exceptions).
However, during the July 6 Commission meeting, Commissioner Nord announced that CPSC had received a petition by the Handmade Toy Alliance to extend the compliance date for this third-party testing and certification as it would take effect during their busy Fall season. The Commissioners noted that the petition would be fully considered.
(Note that CPSC was scheduled to vote on the ASTM toy standards lab notice on July 13, 2011, but this notice reschedules that vote to July 20, 2011. See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/08/11 news, 11070812, for BP summary of the scheduled July 13 vote.)