Play It Safe   

On October 1, the Toy Industry Association (TIA) launched its new Toy Safety Certification Program® (TSCP) to industry participants.  This means that toy companies can apply for certification of their product, and TSCP-certified toys will begin to appear on store shelves next year.

The launch comes just over two years since the first meeting of toy industry stakeholders was held, in August 2007, to address the increased number of toy recalls during the Spring and Summer of 2007 (the so-called Year of the Recall) and to address the corresponding decrease in consumer confidence in the safety of toys. 

With the Stay of Enforcement scheduled to be lifted on February 10, 2010, all children’s product subject to a CPSC children’s product safety rule will require third party testing and certification.  The laboratories performing this testing must be accredited per CPSC requirements.  To this end, the CPSC has issued some important information related to test methods and laboratory accreditation requirements to certify compliance to Section 101 of the CPSIA, Lead in Certain Children’s Products. 

&n...Read More

The CPSC has issued a new testing policy for determining CPSIA phthalate compliance.   It is, in my opinion, a more common sense approach than the previous testing policy.  As we all know, section 108 of the CPSIA prohibits the sale of children's toys and child care articles containing more than 0.1% of certain phthalates.  In previous guidance issued by the CPSC, the agency had taken the posit...Read More

In time for the August 14 anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), the CPSC issued their final interpretative rule on inaccessible component parts.  This is important because inaccessible component parts do not have to comply with the lead content limits of CPSIA, and do not need to be tested and certified as to lead content. Accessible component parts and materials, however, do require testing and certification, and compliance, to the lead content limits, unless otherwise specifically excluded.

The Act itself provides for an exception for inaccessible component parts, defined as “any component part of a children&rs...Read More

On August 14, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will reach the one-year anniversary of its enactment.  There are several provisions that become effective on that date, and the CPSC has issued several updates this month in preparation.

The Lead Content Limit decreases from 600 to 300 ppm as of August 14.  Children’s product exceeding the 300 ppm limit cannot be sold after this date.  We have been testing most products to this new limit since the beginning of the year in anticipation of the change.   ...Read More

I’m writing this blog from Zhuhai, China where tomorrow I will be participating in the first of 3 product safety seminars sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.  CCPIT, also known as the China Chamber of International Commerce, was established in 1952 and is considered the most important and largest institution for the promotion of foreign trade in China.  Together with representatives of the law firm of Holland & Knight and their China Risk Avoidance Team, we will be reviewing the ...Read More

While the US toy industry has been focusing on the numerous regulatory changes brought about by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), Europe has been busy with major changes to their own Toy Safety Directive (88/378/EEC), which had not been significantly updated for 20 years.

Unfortunately, the European changes do not correlate with the US CPSIA changes.  For companies that distribute toys globally, this is a challenge.  Many of the EU changes deal with chemical requirements which go far beyond US regulations....Read More

BPA, or Bisphenol-A, has been in the news lately as another potentially hazardous chemical.  While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to state that BPA is safe – as do government bodies in Europe, Canada, and Japan - consumer groups and legislators are working vigorously to ban the chemical, at least in certain applications. 

BPA is a chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin.  Polycarbonate is used in a wide ...Read More

It’s been a busy month for CPSC, and it’s not even over yet!  I’d like to take this opportunity to provide an update of May CPSIA activities to date.

Section 101 - Stay of Enforcement of Lead Content Limits for Certain Youth Motorized Recreational Vehicles.  Products covered under this stay are youth all-terrain vehicles, youth off-road motorcycles, and youth snowmobiles.  The stay applies to battery terminals containing up to 100% lead and components made with metal alloys, and the stay is in force until May 1, 2011....Read More

I’ll be in New York this week for the TIA’s Toy Safety Certification Program (TSCP) Work Group and Technical Committee meetings, as we work towards launching this program.  For those not familiar with the TSCP, it – like the CPSIA – is a direct result of the extensive toy recalls throughout 2007.  The TIA started work on this program in August 2007 - together with small and large toy manufacturers, retailers, industry organizations, and "The Labs" - to better ensure the safety of toys and to restore consumer confidence.  
 

What I really like about the TSCP is that it does not focus solely on finished product ...Read More

The CPSIA has placed additional burdens on toy manufacturers, by adding requirements such as lead content and phthalates and by mandating third party testing. One outcome of the CPSIA requirements is that quality assurance laboratories such as STR have seen a dramatic increase in their testing business. Some companies suspect that labs have helped push this legislation through as a way to increase profits! This is simply not true.  STR and other major laboratories have actually been working to reduce redundant testing and to consolidate testing where it is practical, without adversely affecting either the safety of the product or the CPSIA requirements.

Some relief in CPSIA testing has been provided by the latest CPSC test method, released yesterday, for determining lead content in paint and other similar surface coatings (http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/CPSC-CH-E1003-09.pdf).

What is unique and exciting about the new test method is that, for the first time, CPSC is allowing for composite testing of multiple paint colors to determine compliance of each color to the lead paint ban (16 CFR 1303). What this means for industry is that, rather than having to test each unique paint and paint color on a product individually, the CPSC test method allows for combining more than one color in one analysis, thereby reducing the total number of tests required—and their associated cost. 

Composite te...Read More