The Regulatory Rustle
A legislative column by Mike Dwyer, JPMA
Mike Dwyer, JPMA -- Kids Today, 10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
There have been several recent developments regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 as well as several updates at the state level that affect the juvenile products industry on the regulatory front. Below is a summary of recent developments.
CPSIA Section 104(b) walkers and bath seats – comments due
In August, CPSC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing a rule under section 104(b) of the CPSIA for infant walkers and bath seats.
In general, CPSC appears to be adopting the requirements specified in ASTM F 977-07 as the CPSC mandatory standard for infant walkers with several modifications and edits that according to them would reduce testing variability and potentially produce safer walkers. In addition, CPSC staff recommends two performance requirements and one labeling requirement not currently found in the ASTM standard. The recommended new requirements include two performance tests from the European Standard EN 1273:2005.
Based on testing and a review of the incidents involving certified bath seats, CPSC staff believes that the requirements in the current voluntary standard are not adequate to address some of the known hazards. Therefore CPSC staff is recommending changes to the ASTM F1967-08a for a new proposed mandatory rule. Those changes include an update to the definition of a bath seat, recommendations for leg opening and stability requirements, clarification of the pass/fail criteria, and a revision of a preparatory step. The ASTM subcommittee on walkers is currently working through these recommendations and will be meeting in mid-October to consider adopting these changes.
These NPRs begin a proceeding under section 104(b) of the CPSIA to issue a consumer product safety standard for walkers and bath seats. Comments are due by Nov. 17.
Tenenbaum addresses House subcommittee
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee recently hosted a hearing on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, titled “The Consumer Product Safety Commission: Current Issues and a Vision for the Future.” Some members produced hundreds of letters from constituents and businesses, frustrated with the CPSIA and burdened by needless testing of safe products. The purpose of the hearing was to focus on the current state of the agency and the vision for the CPSC under its new leadership. Much of the dialogue was focused on the implementation of the CPSIA and whether CPSC had the necessary resources and discretion for rule making and implementation.
SaferProducts.gov will meet requirements
The proposed “SaferProducts.gov” Web site will meet the requirements in the CPSIA by creating a new publicly-searchable database of consumer product safety incidents. This will facilitate an increased exchange of information between CPSC, consumers, and industry. SaferProducts.gov will improve decision-making for both CPSC and the public. For CPSC, it will assist in identifying products to investigate and in determining corrective actions to be taken when hazardous products are discovered. For the public, SaferProducts.gov will provide better access to the latest information on consumer product safety. Industry will be able to work more closely with CPSC by submitting reports and commenting or helping to clarify incident information submitted by consumers.
For more on this, see KidsTodayOnline.com
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