CPSC Amends Infant or Toddler Product Registration Requirements
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a final rule to amend its registration form requirements for durable infant or toddler products. Among other modifications, the CPSC final rule simplifies and clarifies the text of the regulations, adopts changes to the registration form to ensure that consumers register properly, and allows manufacturers to include brand names and third party processors in mailing addresses and contact information.
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(In 2009, the CPSC issued a final rule requiring manufacturers of durable infant or toddler products to (1) provide with each product a postage-paid consumer registration form; (2) keep records of customers who register such products; and (3) permanently mark each such product with the manufacturer's name and contact information, model name, etc.. The rule also specifies the text and format for the registration form and establishes requirements for electronic registration.)
Prior to 2013 Effective Date, Form May Follow Either Original or Amended Rule
The effective date of these amendments is February 18, 2013. However, until the amendments take effect, CPSC will consider registration forms to be in compliance that meet either the existing final rule or the final rule as amended.
Registration Regs Amended to Simplify Form, Clarify Language
On August 8, 2011, CPSC published a notice proposing to amend its registration form requirements for durable infant or toddler products due to requests by manufacturers and testing laboratories for clarifications and corrections. CPSC has now finalized these amendments to its registration form requirements, and is adopting the following changes (partial list):
Form simplified for consumers, manufacturers. In response to confusion among consumers, the format of the manufacturer contact information on the registration form has been modified. New text has been added to the form to clarify that the consumer should only send the bottom half of the form to the manufacturer or third-party processor. CPSC is also allowing manufacturers to omit their name on the customer information portion of the form in response to concerns about space available on the card, and is permitting manufacturers to include the names of third-party registration form processors as a “c/o” (in care of) in the mailing address.
Use of Brand Names Authorized. The regulations now allow the use of brand names in the manufacturers’ contact information and mailing address, provided the manufacturer name is also included.1
Customer Registration Data Storage Requirement Clarified. The final rule modifies the customer registration data storage requirement by adding a provision that records shall be made available within 24 hours upon the request of any officer, employee, or agent acting on behalf of the CPSC.
CPSC also states in the preamble to the final rule that the data is not required to be stored in the United States, provided that the manufacturer can meet the new 24-hour retrieval requirement in the regulations.
Barcodes Allowed on Form. In response to comments, CPSC is allowing the use of barcodes or other machine readable data that would provide a link for the consumer to register the product, provided that the link complies otherwise with the regulations and the manufacturer does not disseminate consumer registration information for any purpose other than safety alerts or recall notifications.1
Other Provisions Simplified, Clarified. CPSC has clarified the format and text of the regulations governing registration form requirements in order to avoid confusion. Among other changes, the text portion of the regulations has been reordered, the font size regulations have been amended to refer to text size in inches/millimeters instead of point size (due to confusion among manufacturers resulting from differing definitions of point size), and the text requirement for the form purpose statement in the text portion of the regulations has been corrected to match the figures in the regulations showing the intended format for the registration cards.
1Changed from proposed rule after CPSC received comments on the issue.
(See ITT’s Online Archives 09123035 for BP summary of 2009 final rule. Also see ITT’s Online Archives 10022215 for summary of CPSC notice correcting inconsistencies between written text and figures in the 2009 final rule.
See ITT’s Online Archives 11080821 for summary of CPSC’s August 8, 2011, proposed rule. See also ITT’s Online Archives 11111710 for summary of comments from outside parties following publication of the proposed rule suggesting that CPSC allow companies to list a third-party vendor or brand name on registration form in lieu of the manufacturer’s name.)