Industry News

CPSC Issues Rules on Testing and Certification of Children's Products, Seeks Comments on Reducing the Burden of Testing Requirements

November 15, 2011


The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published four notices in the Federal Register on November 8, 2011. The notices include two final rules and two proposed rules on testing and certification of children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).

The final rules address testing, certification and labeling of children’s products. The first of the two establishes third-party testing requirements for certification and will be effective on February 8, 2013 (76 FR 69482). The second rule, which describes the options for domestic manufacturers and importers, such as component part testing, takes effect December 8, 2013 (76 FR 69546). It also allows for testing by suppliers.

Additionally, CPSC is seeking comments on two new proposed rules by January 23, 2012. CPSC’s first proposed rule includes regulations on the testing of representative samples for children’s products. The second proposed rule attempts to create channels for reducing the cost of third-party testing requirements. In particular, CPSC asks for comments on seven potential revisions regarding third-party testing costs:

(1) using sampling to reduce the burden of testing without compromising the benefits of it,

(2) testing subsets (selected by a third party) of components,

(3) recognizing other national or international standards,

(4) using materials third-party tested for another agency,

(5) the extent to which modifying certification requirements for similar products from different importers would reduce costs,

(6) use of other test technology, and

(7) other techniques to lower costs.

CPSC seeks to modify the rule in a way that will allow for reduced costs of third party testing while still demonstrating conformity to consumer product safety rules, bans, standards and regulations. CPSC must revise or make new third-party testing regulations not more than one year after publishing this notice.

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