Brief Summary

A. General Certification

The new legislation increases the range of products that require testing and certification. Under prior law, certification was generally required only for consumer products subject to standards promulgated by the Commission under the Consumer Product Safety Act. Now, this general certification requirement has been extended to all products subject to bans as well as standards under the CPSA and to products subject to any similar rule, standard, ban, or regulation under any other Act enforced by the Commission. This general certification requirement is sometimes called a “supplier’s declaration of conformity.” These general conformity certifications do not need to be based on testing done by a third-party laboratory. Certification must be based on a test of the product or a “reasonable testing program.” This new general certification requirement goes into effect on November 12, 2008.

B. Third-Party Testing of Children's Products

The new legislation imposes an additional third-party testing requirement for all consumer products primarily intended for children twelve years of age or younger. Every manufacturer (including an importer) or private labeler of a children’s product must have its product tested by an accredited independent testing lab and, based on the testing, must issue a certificate that the product meets all applicable CPSC requirements.

CPSC is given authority either to accredit laboratories (“third party conformity assessment bodies”) for doing the required testing of children’s products or to designate independent accrediting organizations to accredit the testing laboratories, with one exception. The Commission itself must accredit laboratories that are controlled by the manufacturer of the children’s product in question. To assure their impartiality, government labs must also meet strict standards of independence. The CPSC must maintain an up-to-date list of accredited labs on its web site. CPSC has authority to suspend or terminate a laboratory’s accreditation in appropriate circumstances.

The third-party testing and certification requirements for children’s products are phased in on a rolling schedule. The statute requires the CPSC to issue laboratory accreditation regimes for different categories of children’s products. Once the CPSC issues the laboratory accreditation requirement for that category of children’s products, each children’s product in that category that is manufactured more than ninety days after that date must be tested and certified to the applicable requirements. The schedule for CPSC to issue the laboratory accreditation requirements and the certification schedule is set forth on the timeline shown in the chart below.

C. Certificates

The required certificates, whether general conformity certificates or certificates for children’s products based on third-party testing, must be in English and also may be in another language. They must include information on the identity of the manufacturer or private labeler of the product, the testing laboratory, and the date and place of manufacturing and testing the product.

Products without the required certificate cannot be imported or distributed in commerce in the United States. The certificate must accompany the product or product shipment and must be available to CPSC and Customs and Border Protection upon request. Failure to furnish the certificate or furnishing a false certificate can subject the manufacturer or private labeler to civil and criminal penalties.

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^* Procedure published in the Federal Register on September 22, 2008. 73 Fed. Reg. 54,564-6