Commissioners Nord and Adler have each issued supplemental statements on the recent votes to approve the final rule on continued children's product testing, all-product labeling, etc; component part testing final rule; proposed rule on representative sampling; and comment request on reducing the cost of third-party testing of children's products. The two Commissioners continued to debate each others' positions on whether the final rule on continued children's product testing (and other issues) should have been re-proposed as recommended by staff, whether the statute actually requires periodic testing of children's products to be done by a third-party lab, Congressional intent, etc.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced its weekly meeting on November 16, 2011 in which the staff briefs the Commission on various compliance matters. The meeting is closed to the public, and the agenda is confidential.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has launched two new features to the business portal of SaferProducts.gov, the online public database of consumer product safety incidents. CPSC says that the enhancements are largely in response to requests and feedback CPSC received from businesses and trade associations.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is correcting its August 2011 final rule that amended the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to increase the supplemental assessment rate for imported cotton by approximately 14%. The final rule also revised the textile trade conversion factors used to determine the raw fiber equivalents of imported cotton-containing products and tripled the number of HTS numbers subject to assessment (tax). These rates and other changes took effect on September 30, 2011.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has published four significant and related notices on testing, certification and labeling of consumer products. According to CPSC sources, there were several amendments throughout the voting on October 19, but the finalized versions retained the general concepts of the drafts.
The Department of Trade and Industry in Hong Kong has issued a notice to exporters for the U.S. market regarding the proposed revision of textiles-related fees, which is expected to be implemented on December 23, 2011. The HK Department states that subject to the completion of the legislative process, the annual registration fee for the Textiles Trade Registration Scheme (TTRS) will drop to HK$ 349 (from HK$ 718). See notice for other proposed fee changes.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced its weekly meeting on November 9, 2011 in which the staff briefs the Commission on various compliance matters. The meeting is closed to the public, and the agenda is confidential.
California's Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) is releasing the Informal Draft Regulations for Safer Consumer Products for public review and comment. These regulations represent the renewed efforts to develop a regulatory process to identify and prioritize chemicals of concern in consumer products and conduct an alternatives analysis that will result in safer consumer products. The informal draft regulations incorporate the input and comments received to date. The public is invited to provide further comments during a December 5, 2011 workshop for these regulations. SCP informal draft regulations available here.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following additional voluntary recall for November 3, 2011:
Commissioner Tenenbaum of the Consumer Product Safety Commission discussed agency priorities for 2012 during the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization's (ICPHSO) recent safety event in South Korea. She stated that the agenda goes beyond the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to address hazards with portable gas generators, recreational off-highway vehicles and all-terrain vehicles, upholstered furniture, and table saws.