Washington's toy safety regs become law
By Staff -- Playthings, 4/2/2008 9:01:00 AM
OLYMPIA, Wash.—Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire yesterday signed into law the state’s Children’s Safe Products Act, the nation’s strictest toy safety regulations, but not without first striking some of the Act’s provisions.
The governor vetoed sections of the measure on its scope and timing of regulations in order to “strengthen the protections for children, minimize bureaucracy and protect good businesses that want to sell good toys,” according to a statement.
Before the law goes into effect in summer 2009, Gregoire pledged to convene an advisory group composed of children’s advocates, doctors and toxicologists, manufacturers and toy store representatives and owners to guide implementation of the bill in a manner that “makes sense for Washington.” The group will be charged with helping to develop additional legislation for the governor to pursue during the 2009 legislative session.
To improve upon the bill in the short term, Gregoire requested the drafting of administrative rules to clarify some provisions of the bill, creating an advisory group to look at standards for the outer surface and inside of toys, and to consider timelines needed for the industry to implement new standards.
The goal of such efforts, according to a release announcing Gregoire’s signing of the act, is to “developing the right scientific standards that protect children without putting good companies out of business and without removing great toys from the shelf.”
Gregoire expressed concern with reporting and testing requirements that could make it difficult for small toy makers and independent toy retailers to provide toys in Washington, as well as noted concerns about issues over lead restrictions in electronic toys.
“While we are increasing protections, we must also avoid eliminating the many interactive and educational toys that have internal electronics. Without modification of this law, those would be taken off the shelf,” Gregoire noted.
Gregoire has instructed the state’s Department of Ecology to prepare expedited rules to clarify that the bill does not apply to internal electronic components that are not accessible to children, such as chip boards and wiring; and determine how Washington fits with national, international and other state standards (notably those in California and the European Union) in order to “establish a degree of consistency for the industry."
[To read Gregoire’s complete signing statement, click here]
The TIA's take
Reacting to Gregoire’s moves, the Toy Industry Association said in a statement on its website:
“We are encouraged that the Governor vetoed two key parts of the bill and issued strong cautions about the remaining sections, as the state legislators ignored complex issues in their rush to pass the law. As she indicated in her signing statement, the Governor is committed to fixing these issues in the rulemaking process and will work with legislators and regulators to address these unresolved issues.
"We anticipate that other states will take a more deliberate approach and fully consider the impact of pending legislation related to toys before passing laws.
"The toy industry is deeply committed to the health and safety of children. We have long supported tough national and international safety standards covering every aspect of toy manufacturing and our toys comply with these standards.
"TIA supports federal legislative efforts to strengthen toy safety laws and believes the comprehensive, unified set of regulations is the best approach to ensure the safety of our nation’s children.”
What the regulations say
Washington's new law lowers the legal limit for lead to 90 parts per million (.009 percent by weight), cadmium to 40 parts per million (.004 percent by weight) and phthalates to 1000 parts per million (0.1 percent by weight) in most toys, children's cosmetics and children's jewelry. The standards go into effect on July 1, 2009.
Manufacturers of products found in violation of the new regulations will be fined up to $5,000 per violation for a first offense and up to $10,000 for each repeated offense. Retailers who unknowingly sell products restricted under the new regulations will not be financially penalized.
[Click here to read Washington’s Children’s Safe Products Act as originally presented to Governor Gregoire.]
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