Business Guidance FAQ

16 CFR § 1130.2(a) defines a durable infant or toddler product as a product intended for use, or that may be reasonably expected to be used, by children under the age of 5 years and is one of the following:

• Cribs (full size and non-full size)
• Toddler beds
• Highchairs, booster seats, and hook-on chairs
• Bath seats
• Gates and enclosures
• Play yards
• Stationary activity centers
• Infant carriers (soft infant and toddler carriers, hand-held infant carriers, sling carriers, and frame child carriers)
• Strollers
• Walkers
• Swings
• Bassinets and cradles (includes bedside sleepers and infant sleep products)
• Children’s folding chairs and children’s folding stools
• Baby changing products
• Infant bouncers
• Infant bathtubs
• Bed rails
• Crib mattresses

All durable infant or toddler products must meet certain children’s product safety requirements, such as lead in surface coatings, lead content, phthalate content (in certain circumstances), mandatory testing by a CPSC-accepted laboratory, certification, registration cards, and tracking labels and other markings.

In addition, durable infant or toddler products for which the Commission has issued final regulations must comply with additional performance requirements.

For more information, visit our durable infant or toddler products business guidance page.

To improve recall effectiveness, Congress has required that manufacturers and importers of durable infant or toddler products:

1. Provide consumers with a postage-paid product registration form (also known as registration cards) with each product;
2. Maintain a record of the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and other contact information of consumers who register their products; and
3. Permanently place the manufacturer/importer, U.S. contact information, model name and number, and the date of manufacture on each durable infant or toddler product.

For more information, visit our registration forms business guidance page.

Yes. When the Commission adopts a new mandatory safety rule, it publishes the rule and its effective date in the Federal Register. Durable infant or toddler products must be tested and certified by that effective date. For durable infant or toddler products, the effective date has typically been set at six months after publication of the new rule in the Federal Register. Based on passing test results, manufacturers of importers of durable infant or toddler products must issue a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC). For more information, visit our CPC business guidance page.

This is commonly referred to as retrospective testing where testing to a standard was conducted prior to that standard being made mandatory. Such testing may be acceptable as the basis for certifying a product as compliant provided that certain guidelines are met. CPSC has provided an outline of some of the conditions previously required in the question "Does the CPSC accept testing performed before the effective date of a new mandatory standard for a children's product?" on our Initial Testing FAQ page.

The standards organization that issued the voluntary standard must provide notice to the Commission that the standard has been updated/revised. Thereafter, the updated/revised voluntary standard automatically will be considered to be the new mandatory children’s product safety rule 180 days after notification to the Commission by the standards organization unless the Commission takes additional action. If, after receiving notification of an update/revision to the standard, the Commission determines that the proposed revision(s) does not improve the safety of the consumer product covered by the standard within 90 days from the date of notification to it, and the Commission notifies the standards organization of its determination, the revisions to the voluntary standard do not take effect, and the applicable mandatory children’s product safety rule remains unchanged. The latest, Commission-accepted version of the voluntary standard that is mandatory is referenced within the CFR part that establishes a mandatory safety standard for the product.

SBO’s Business Education newsletter (check the box for “Business Education”) compiles Commission actions and provides summaries of updates on rulemaking and other activities. Commission rules are listed in the CFR.

Regulations.gov has a list of all rules open for comment. You can filter results by agency, whether it’s a rule or proposed rule, or even when the comment period ends.

Subscribing to CPSC’s Federal Register notices will send email notifications anytime CPSC posts requests for information pursuant to rulemaking, notices of proposed rulemaking, or final rules.

You can always contact the SBO directly for guidance on CPSC’s regulations. You can reach the SBO through their contact form, by phone toll-free at (888) 531-9070, or by email to SBO@cpsc.gov.