Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008

The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was signed into law on August 14 by President Bush. The bill, also known as H.R. 4040, requires manufacturers and importers to subject toys and other nursery products to certify that they have passed strict mandatory U.S. safety standards before they hit store shelves. The certifications must be based on reasonable production testing of parts or finished products.

Here is a summary of some provisions the new CPSC regulations are required to implement:

Toy and JP Testing: Requires mandatory third party safety certification of products made for children 12 and under. Upon CPSC accreditation, private labs could be allowed to test products if they provide equal or greater consumer protection than available third party labs. Authorizes CPSC personnel to inspect any lab certified under the Consumer Product Safety Act and withdraw accreditation if necessary. The JPMA Certification Program is subject to update and is expected to provide a turnkey solution to these new testing and certification requirements. Certain durable infant products: Specifically identifies certain products that will need to contain product registration cards, which are: full-size cribs and non-full-size cribs; toddler beds; high chairs, booster chairs, and hook-on chairs; bath seats; gates and other enclosures for confining a child; play yards; stationary activity centers; infant carriers; strollers; walkers; swings; and bassinets and cradles.

Phthalates: Permanently bans the sale, only of toys and certain under 3 childcare articles containing trace concentrations of three phthalates: DEHP, DBP, or BBP. Temporarily bans
products containing trace concentrations of DINP, DIDP, or DnOP unless further study and
evaluation prompts the CPSC to lift the ban.

Whistleblower Protections: Provides whistleblower protections for private sector employees reporting safety issues to the CPSC.

Funding: Authorizes funding levels for the CPSC for five years beginning in 2010 increasing their budget from $80 to $136 million by 2014. As part of the authorization, Conferees directed $25 million toward establishing a public database (see below for additional info).

Quorum: Allows a two-member quorum at the CPSC to conduct official business for the one year period beginning on the date of enactment. The CPSC currently is without a quorum and
cannot conduct business that requires Commission action such as a mandatory recall. Restores
the Commission to five members instead of three members.

Rulemaking Process: Streamlines the product safety rulemaking process to be timelier by eliminating a mandatory “Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” step; it remains an option for CPSC.

Lead in Substrates: Bans lead for products manufactured for children age 12 or younger. Specifically, the permissible level of lead in children’s products would be 600 ppm after 180
days, 300 ppm after one year, and 100 ppm after three years following enactment, if feasible. The
CPSC is directed to periodically review and lower the limit and also to except inaccessible parts,
electronic components and parts that do not pose a human health risk.

Database: Within two years, the CPSC will establish a searchable database to include any reports of injuries, illness, death or risk related to consumer products submitted by consumers, local, state, or national government agencies, child care providers, physicians, hospitals,
coroners, first responders, and the media. Upon receiving a complaint, the CPSC has five days to
submit the complaint to the manufacturer. The manufacturer then has 10 days to respond. The
complaint and manufacturers response would then also be posted on the database. The CPSC
would have the authority to remove or correct a complaint if it is found to be inaccurate.

Civil Fines: Increases the civil fine penalty cap from $5,000 to $100,000 per individual violation, and from $1.85 million to $15 million for aggregate violations.

Criminal Penalties: Increases criminal penalties to five years in jail for those who knowingly and willingly violate product safety laws.

Attorneys General: Provides authority for state attorneys general to enforce, but not interpret, consumer product safety laws and act expeditiously to remove dangerous products from shelves.

Labeling: Requires manufacturers to label children’s products with tracking information, using their own product appropriate systems that enable them to better identify recalled products.

Recalled Products: Makes it unlawful for retailers to sell a recalled product.

Supply Chain: Requires companies to identify manufacturers and subcontractors in the supply
chain to CPSC.

Export of Recalled Products: Enables the CPSC to prohibit a U.S. entity from exporting a product that does not comply with consumer product safety rules unless the importing country has notified the Commission of its permission.

Import Safety: Requires the CPSC to develop a plan to identify shipments of consumer products intended for import into the U.S. Improves information sharing among federal agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Destruction of Noncompliant Imports: Provides greater CPSC oversight to prevent the entry of unsafe consumer products in the U.S.

“Retialer Legislative Update” written by Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association http://www.jpma.org