CPSC to Vote on Whether to Delay Feb 10th CPSIA Children's Product Lead Content Limits
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a ballot sheet requesting CPSC Commissioners to vote on a request its staff received for an emergency stay of the February 10, 2009 effective date of the lead content limits1 for children's products established under Section 101(a)(2) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA2).
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Commissioners Expected to Vote by February 9, 2009
The CPSC Commissioners are expected to vote on the request by February 9, 2009.
NAM, Others Request Delay of 185 Days or 90 Days After Final Rules/Regulations Are Issued
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) CPSC Coalition and other parties sent the request to CPSC asking for an emergency stay of 185 days, or until 90 days after the CPSC issues final comprehensive rules and interpretive regulations implementing Section 101, if later.
The request states that compliance with the new lead content limits on February 10, 2009 will be a practical impossibility for thousands of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and resellers.
In addition, the request notes that CPSC has issued several notices of proposed rulemakings which clearly cannot be completed until well after the current February 10, 2009 effective date. These include the interpretation of which parts and components are considered accessible and thus subject to the lead content limits, proposing exclusions for a limited number of materials, and proposing procedures and criteria for making additional exclusion determinations.
The request adds that CPSC has yet to propose specific designated test procedures for lead content for any materials other than metal in children's jewelry and lead in paint or to clarify the critically important role of component testing within a regime of third party testing of children's products by accredited laboratories.
According to the request, clearly developed final regulations are first necessary to enable compliance determinations and effective enforcement.
1The CPSIA imposes progressive limits on lead content in children's products (designed or intended primarily for children 12 years old or younger) beginning February 10, 2009, when any children's product containing more than 600 parts per million (ppm) total lead content by weight for any part of the product will be treated as a banned hazardous substance. This is followed by decreases in the allowable lead content limit on August 14, 2009 to 300 ppm and on August 14, 2011 to 100 ppm, if feasible. (Note that CPSC has determined that children's products that exceed the CPSIA lead content limit cannot be sold from inventory or on store shelves after the effective dates of the limits.)
2Enacted as Public Law 110-314 on August 14, 2008.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/02/09 news, 09020205, for BP summary of a CPSC press release announcing a one year stay for certain CPSIA testing and certification requirements, though not underlying product conformity. See future issues of ITT for BP summary of CPSC's actual notice announcing the stay, once posted.
See ITT's Online Archives or 01/20/09, 01/14/09, 01/15/09, and 01/16/09 news, 09012015, 09011410, 09011510, and 09011610, for BP summaries of the four CPSC proposed rules on possible exemptions/procedures for seeking exemptions to CPSIA lead content limits.
See ITT's Online Archives or 08/27/08 and 09/10/08 news, 08082705 and 08091005, for BP summaries of the CPSIA lead content provisions and children's product certification requirements, respectively.)
CPSC Ballot Vote Sheet with attachment to NAM CPSC Coalition request (dated 02/03/09) available at http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia09/brief/stay101.pdf
CPSC Website on the CPSIA available at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html