CPSC gives update on lead limits to Congress
Gerri Hunt -- Kids Today, 1/19/2010 8:06:00 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission appeared before Congress Friday to present an update of its enforcement efforts of Section 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which established lead content limits in children’s products.
On Feb. 10, 2009, a limit was established of 600 parts per million for any accessible part. The limit was reduced to 300 ppm, effective Aug. 14, 2009.
According to the CPSC, the Office of Compliance identified 338 violations relating to lead content limits in Fiscal Year 2009. Most were found by screening children’s products at U.S. ports using X-ray fluorescence technology. Products in violation were seized and did not enter the U.S. marketplace. Some violations were reported to CPSC staff, and others were found during surveillance at U.S. retail stores.
The CPSC has developed an Import Examination database, which allows the staff to identify shipments examined, whether or not a sample was collected, states the report. “This database provides a better accounting of time and effort spent on import surveillance and also provides a better insight into the overall rate of compliance with the lead limits. In the first quarter of FY 2010, CPSC staff screened 912 products for compliance with lead content and/or lead-in-paint limits, and collected 83 samples for further evaluation. Of the samples for which laboratory testing is already complete, 70 have been found violative.”
The CPSC told Congress that its staff has confronted enforcement issues on several fronts. One of the issues is enforcing the law retroactively – the CPSIA makes it unlawful to sell products that exceed the lead content limits after the effective date regardless of when the products were manufactured.
“This provision created substantial problems for manufacturers and retailers with large inventories of children’s products and similar problems will occur in the future whenever the lead limits are lowered,” states the report to Congress. “CPSIA requires at least one future reduction of the lead content limit, from 300 ppm to 100 ppm in August 2011, unless the Commission determines that the lower limit is not technologically feasible, in which case the Commission must establish a new limit at the lowest feasible level.”
Another problem CPSC faces is the cost of testing and certification, which has been a frequent complaint from manufacturers.
In that regard, the Commission states that it has taken steps to reduce unnecessary costs without undercutting the safety benefits of the testing:
First, it has announced determinations with regard to a wide variety of materials whose lead content is inherently below applicable lead limits. When a children’s product contains such materials, those parts do not need to be tested to show compliance with lead limits.
Second, the Commission has adopted an interim enforcement policy that allows manufacturers to certify compliance with lead content and lead paint limits based on testing of individual components. This step has the potential to lower testing costs substantially, though it introduces some risk that post-testing contamination or inappropriate substitutions may go undetected.
Third, the Commission has stayed enforcement of the requirement to certify compliance of all children’s products with section 101 lead limits until Feb.10, 2011.
The CPSC made several recommendations for improvements to the statute. Among them are a prospective application of the 100 ppm lead limits, as the retroactive enforcement will disrupt the market, and because recent tracking-label requirements will help ensure that products manufactured after the 100 ppm deadline are compliant.
Also, CPSC said it is aware that third-party testing requirements are a concern among small manufacturers and crafters. Therefore, the report states, “during the development of the mandatory rule on testing and certification, the Commission will be seeking ways to relieve unnecessary testing and certification burdens on business, especially smaller and home-based businesses, without compromising the law’s protections for children. The Commission will be looking at volume of production, channels of distribution as well as any similar distinctions other federal agencies have made with respect to smaller businesses, as possible ways to structure the testing and certification requirements.
To read the full report, click here.
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