The Consumer Product Safety Commission has updated as of August 24, 2011 the list of meetings between CPSC and its stakeholders that are open to the public, unless otherwise stated. The list now includes this meeting:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission will host the first North America Consumer Product Safety Summit in Bethesda, MD on September 26-27, 2011. According to CPSC, the Summit will provide an historic opportunity for product safety leaders in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. to lay out their shared visions for enhanced consumer product safety cooperation among our countries. It will also provide the opportunity to discuss trilateral initiatives and develop an agenda for future engagement that reflects the three jurisdictions’ shared product safety priorities. The Summit will include public sessions. More details and registration information is expected in the coming weeks.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a press release on the DR-CAFTA Sourcing Directory, a new online tool that was presented at the MAGIC textile trade show on August 22, 2011. The directory is meant to build better connections between textile buyers and manufacturers in DR-CAFTA countries and attract increased sourcing of textiles and apparel to the Western Hemisphere. Note that this website currently indicates it is in beta1 form.
In an August 4, 2011 speech at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO) conference, Chairman Tenenbaum of the Consumer Product Safety Commission discussed future items on CPSC's agenda. She stated that the agency still has to complete several major requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, such as the component part testing and continuous testing and certification rulemaking and more of the durable infant product standards, but that CPSC would also be focusing on non-CPSIA issues such as portable gas generators, recreational off-road vehicles (ROVs), ATVs, upholstered furniture, and window coverings.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission published a notice of the following voluntary recalls for Aug 23, 2011:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a press release announcing its June renewal of a 2008 Memorandum of Understanding with Brazil’s National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro) to improve product safety. The MOU includes possible joint enforcement activities, increased information sharing, and an agreement to work to align product safety requirements when possible.
In her August 11, 2011 statement regarding reorganizational changes at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Chairman Tenenbaum stated that by making the Import Surveillance Division report directly to the Deputy Executive Director for Safety Operations, CPSC will be ensuring several benefits for importers.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has determined that an acceptable substitute for certain compacted, plied, ring spun cotton yarns1, is now available in the DR-CAFTA countries in commercial quantities in a timely manner. As a result, the yarns will be removed from the DR-CAFTA short supply list and 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 note that this is the first time a product has been removed from this list.
Commissioner Nord of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a blog entry on her hope that CPSC will wait to issue its final rule on mandatory periodic testing (the overdue "15 month" rule) until it conducts the public inquiry on ways to reduce Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) testing burdens, as required by the new CPSIA reform law (H.R. 2715) signed by President Obama on August 12, 2011. She says that this would lead to a more thoughtful, more collaborative, and more transparent final rule. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/02/11 and 08/15/11 news, 11080230 and 11081501, for detailed BP summary of H.R. 2715 and it's signature by the President.)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission published a notice of the following voluntary recall for Aug 18, 2011: