The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a draft final rule on audit requirements for third-party assessment bodies as a condition for their continuing accreditation. CPSC has also posted a draft proposed rule on requirements pertaining to third-party conformity assessment bodies that test children's products for certification. The proposed rule would establish the general requirements for third-party conformity assessment bodies and would amend their audit and inspection requirements, among other things. CPSC is scheduled to vote on both rules on April 4, 2012.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission will discuss lab withdrawal, codification, and audit procedures during an open meeting on March 21, 2012 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. This portion of the meeting can be viewed via a live webcast here. The Commission will also hold its weekly compliance meeting on this date from 3:00-4:00 p.m., in which the staff briefs the Commission on the status of various compliance matters. This portion of the meeting is closed to the public and the agenda is confidential.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has issued the interim procedures it will follow in considering requests from the public for textile and apparel safeguard actions, as provided for in the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act. A safeguard action may be needed due to increased imports of a Korean textile or apparel product, under the terms of the KFTA, that damages or threatens to damage the U.S domestic industry.
California's Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) has posted the comments it received in response to its Informal Draft Regulations for Safer Consumer Products. These regulations aim 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. Draft regulations are available here. Summary of the draft regulations are available here.
As of February 20, 2012, certain compacted, plied, ring spun cotton yarns are removed from the DR-CAFTA short supply list in accordance with the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements' (CITA) August 2011 determination that an acceptable substitute is now available in the DR-CAFTA countries in commercial quantities in a timely manner. As a result, textile and apparel articles containing the yarns will not be considered DR-CAFTA-originating if the yarns are obtained from non-DR-CAFTA sources effective for goods entered on or after February 20, 2012. CITA sources previously noted that this is the first time a product has been removed from this list.