Manufacturers and importers of general use products (i.e., non-children’s products,) for which consumer product safety rules apply, must certify in a written certificate that their products comply with those applicable rules. The CPSC has provided a model General Certificate of Conformity for use by manufacturers and importers as an example or form.
(Manufacturers and importers of children’s products, please see www.cpsc.gov/gettingstarted for more information.)
How Do I Identify the Applicable Federal Consumer Product Safety Rules for My Product?
Many of the federal consumer product safety rules for which testing and certification are required are listed on the CPSC’s website in the CPSC’s table or searchable database of regulated products.
What Type of Testing is Required?
A test of each product or a reasonable testing program is required. See the frequently asked questions for more detail.
(Any laboratory—an in-house or an external, third party laboratory—can perform the testing required for non-children’s products. Children’s products must be tested by a CPSC-accepted laboratory. Find out more about the requirements for certifying children’s products.)
What Are My Other Responsibilities?
Please see our overview of the CPSIA for your additional responsibilities, including the duty to immediately report the following type of information to the CPSC:
- a defective product that could create a substantial risk of injury to consumers or a product that is otherwise unreasonably hazardous or dangerous for consumers;
- a product that fails to comply with an applicable consumer product safety rule or with any other rule, regulation, standard, or ban under the CPSA or any other statute enforced by the CPSC;
- a product that a child (regardless of age) chokes on, such as a marble, small ball, balloon, or small part; and that, as a result of the incident, the child dies, suffers serious injury, ceases breathing for any length of time, or is treated by a medical professional;
- a product that has been listed as a substantial product hazard by Commission action (such as a hairdryer without the appropriate immersion protection); or
- certain types of lawsuits (applies to manufacturers and importers only, subject to the time periods detailed in Section 37 of the CPSA.).
Failure to fully and immediately report this information may lead to substantial civil or criminal penalties.
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