Business Guidance FAQ

Walk-behind power lawn mowers that are consumer products must comply with a mandatory federal consumer product safety standard: 16 CFR Part 1205, the Safety Standard for Walk-Behind Power Lawn Mowers. This standard also requires on-product labeling.

Mowers that meet all three of the following characteristics, as described in 16 CFR § 1205.1(c)(1), are not covered by the standard and do not require the issuance of a GCC:

1. a cutting width of 30 in. (762 mm), or greater;
2. a weight of 200 lbs. (90.7 kg), or more; and
3. for engine-powered mowers, an engine of 8 horsepower (6 kw), or more.

Reel-type mowers are not required to meet the performance requirements in the standard, but they must be labeled, as required by 16 CFR § 1205.6.

Manufacturers (or importers) must issue a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) certifying compliance with the standard for all covered power lawn mowers.

Section 2 of a GCC requires a list of applicable citations for the product being certified. The citation for walk-behind power lawn mower is: 16 CFR Part 1205.

Sporting and camping equipment not designed or intended primarily for use by children age 12 or under, would likely be considered a general-use product by the CPSC. Voluntary standard,CPAI-84: A Specification for Flame-Resistant Materials Used in Camping Tentage, provides a flammability testing protocol for general-use camping tents. If applicable to your product, see the sections below on General Certificates of Conformity and your Mandatory Reporting Obligation.

Sporting and camping goods designed or intended primarily for children ages 12 and under are specifically excluded from the US Toy Standard, ASTM F963-17, but would still need to meet certain other mandatory children’s product safety requirements.

Additionally, a consumer product cannot create a substantial risk of injury as a result of being extremely flammable. For sporting and camping equipment that will likely be used near a flame source (such as an outdoor tent), a manufacturer or importer needs to ensure that this product does not pose a risk of being highly flammable or an extremely flammable solid. Importers and manufacturers of these products should conduct flammability testing to one of these three flammability testing protocols: (1) 16 CFR § 1500.44, (2) the test method provided in Annex A5 of the U.S. Toy Safety Standard, ASTM F963-17, or (3) the voluntary standard CPAI-84 outlined above.

For more information on the requirements in place for your consumer product, please visit CPSC’s Regulatory Robot tool: https://business.cpsc.gov/robot.

Hazardous lawn darts are banned. The Ban of Hazardous Lawn Darts (16 CFR Part 1306) prohibits lawn darts with elongated tips that are intended to be used outdoors and that are designed to contact the ground tip first.

As defined in ASTM F2011, a fun-kart is a motorized vehicle with four wheels, excluding vehicles that the operator and passenger, if any, sit astride, sold commercially as consumer goods, and intended for private personal recreational use by consumers for off-road use on suitable terrain, as recommended by the manufacturer, at maximum speeds over 12 mph (19.3 km/h) but not exceeding 40 mph (64.4 km/hr.) (ASTM F2011)

There is no mandatory CPSC standard for fun-karts; however, there is a voluntary standard for fun-karts that represents industry best practices: ASTM F2011-02 (2010) Standard Specification for Safety and Performance of Fun-Karts. The standard may be purchased from ASTM by following the hyperlink provided or by visiting astm.org.

This mandatory federal consumer product safety standard is found at 16 CFR Part 1207, the Safety Standard for Swimming Pool Slides.

Section 2 of a GCC (if a general use product) or a CPC (if a children’s product) requires a list of applicable citations for the product being certified. The citation for a freestanding swimming pool slide is 16 CFR Part 1207.

Dive sticks, and other similar articles, used in swimming pools or other water environments for activities such as underwater retrieval games or swimming instruction, and which, when placed in the water, submerge and rest at the bottom of the pool, are banned pursuant to 16 CFR § 1500.18(a)(19). This includes products that are pre-weighted to sink to the bottom and products that are designed to allow the user to adjust the weight.

Dive sticks and similar articles that come to rest underwater at an angle greater than 45 degrees from vertical when measured under the test at 16 CFR § 1500.86(a)(7), and dive sticks and similar articles that maintain a compressive force of less than 5-lbf under the test at 16 CFR § 1500.86(a)(8), are exempt from this ban. Articles that have a continuous circular shape, such as dive rings and dive disks, are similarly excluded from this ban.

A constant-air inflatable play device (commonly known as a “bounce house”) is a structure relying on a continuous supply of air pressure to maintain its shape, on or in which users play. (ASTM F2729).

There is no mandatory CPSC standard for constant air inflatable play devices; however, there is a voluntary standard for these products that represents industry best practices: ASTM F2729-12, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Constant Air Inflatable Play Devices for Home Use. The standard may be purchased from ASTM by following the hyperlink provided or by visiting astm.org.

Toy, look-alike, and imitation firearms are any devices that have the appearance, shape, and/or configuration of a firearm. Per 15 U.S.C. § 5001, the term “look-alike firearm” includes:

• Toy guns
• Water guns
• Replica nonguns
• Air-soft guns firing nonmetallic projectiles

The term “look-alike firearm” does not include:

• Non-firing collector replica antique firearms
• Traditional B-B, paint-ball, or pellet-firing air guns
• Decorative, ornamental, and miniature objects that have the appearance of a firearm and measure no more than 38 mm by 70 mm (excludes any gun stock length)

The rule that CPSC now enforces carries over, without substantive changes, the existing requirements that toy, look-alike, and imitation firearms utilize one of the below approved markings listed at 16 CFR § 1272.3. Since 1989, these same requirements have been found at 15 CFR § 272.3:

• A blaze orange (AMS STD 595A–17 color 12199) or orange color brighter than that specified by the AMS standard color number, solid plug permanently affixed to the muzzle end of the barrel as an integral part of the entire device and recessed no more than 6 mm from the muzzle end of the barrel;
• A blaze orange (AMS STD 595A–17 color 12199) or orange color brighter than that specified by the AMS standard color number, marking permanently affixed to the exterior surface of the barrel, covering the circumference of the barrel from the muzzle end for a depth of at least 6 mm;
• Construction of the device entirely of transparent or translucent materials which permits unmistakable observation of the device's complete contents;
• Coloration of the entire exterior surface of the device in white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, or bright purple, either singly or as the predominant color in combination with other colors in any pattern.

For more information, visit our toy, look-alike, and imitation firearm business guidance page and our CPSC Webinar: Toy, Look-alike, and Imitation Firearms

Toy, look-alike, or imitation firearms that are used in the theatrical, movie, or television industry are exempt provided that the firm has requested a waiver that is granted by CPSC. Requests for a waiver must be made in writing and include a physical sample of the product along with a sworn affidavit. Firms should email their request to RegulatoryEnforcement@cpsc.gov and mail samples to:

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Compliance and Field Operations

Regulatory Enforcement Division

7500 Lindbergh Dr, Unit-A

Gaithersburg, MD 20879-5413

No. CPSC does not conduct pre-market approval of consumer goods.

Neither the statute nor the regulation specifically defines “permanently affixed”; therefore, it is ultimately the responsibility of the domestic manufacturer or importer of record to ensure that any required plugs or markings are permanent. An example of a non-permanent fixture is a plastic, orange plug that has threading so that it can be removed from the end of the barrel.

Section 14(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) requires manufacturers and importers of consumer products subject to a regulation, standard, or ban enforced by the CPSC to certify that those products meet the requirements of the standard by issuing a certificate of compliance: Children’s Product Certificate (CPC) for children’s products or General Certificate of Compliance (GCC) for general-use products. 

Certifying to 16 CFR part 1272 for general-use products does not require laboratory testing, because the regulation does not contain a testing methodology. A manufacturer or importer of toy, look-alike and imitation firearms can assure a high degree of compliance with 16 CFR part 1272 by conducting an internal quality assurance program for their products.

For toy, look-alike, and imitation firearms, the citation to use in section 2 of the certificate is 16 CFR part 1272.

General-use Product Compliance and Certification

As stated above, certification to the requirements of 16 CFR part 1272 does not need to be based upon laboratory testing. In short, manufacturers and importers of general-use products do not need to conduct third party testing in order to assure product compliance and issue a GCC. Instead certification in this situation can be based upon an internal compliance review, known officially in the law as a “reasonable testing program” (see our reasonable testing program FAQ). For toy, look-alike, and imitation firearms, such a program could be based upon internal quality assurance checks to ensure a high degree of compliance with the requirements. For more information on general-use product certification, visit our GCC business guidance page. In general, preparation and delivery of a GCC is expected to take no more than 2-3 hours per product—and usually less than 1 hour. 

GCC Temporary Enforcement Discretion: The CPSC Office of Compliance and Field Operations will exercise enforcement discretion and will not pursue enforcement action against manufacturers, importers, or private labelers of look-alike and imitation firearms for failure to certify or to issue, provide, or make available to the Commission a GCC pursuant to Section 14(a)(1) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. § 2063(a)(1).  This enforcement discretion will remain in effect until January 1, 2024.  This discretion does not impact any other requirements under the law. Please read the entire GCC enforcement discretion letter for more information.

Children’s Product Compliance and Certification

In addition to meeting the requirements of 16 CFR part 1272, manufacturers and importers of toy, look-alike, and imitation firearms that are primarily intended for use by children 12 years of age and younger must meet additional consumer product safety requirements. (See our Children’s Product Business Guidance Page)

All children’s products must comply with the total lead content requirements found at 15 USC §1278a. Additionally, any children’s products containing paint or similar surface coatings must comply with lead in paint requirements under 16 CFR part 1303. Children’s products must further comply with CPSC tracking label requirements (see our training video).

Toy guns designed, manufactured, or marketed as a plaything for children need to meet additional requirements under the U.S. Toy Standard: 16 CFR part 1250/ASTM F963. (Read-only copies of ASTM standards that are incorporated by reference, including ASTM F963, can be viewed at ASTM’s electronic Reading Room). Plastic components on children’s toy guns would need to comply with phthalate content limits under 16 CFR 1307.

Compliance with one or more of these additional children’s product requirements likely require third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory. For more information on children’s product certification, visit our CPC business guidance page.

A manufacturer or importer certifying product compliance can list multiple products on a single GCC or CPC. However, CPSC staff generally recommends listing only similar products on a single certificate. For example, if five products have the same design with only minor differences (e.g., different colors), all those products can be listed on a single certificate.

The difference is largely based on the material used for the projectile. In general, air guns that fire metal projectiles are considered “pellet-firing air guns,” and are excluded from the scope of 16 CFR 1272. Air-soft guns firing nonmetallic projectiles, such as plastic BBs, are included in the definition of "Look-alike firearm" under 15 U.S.C. § 5001(c), and would be within scope of 16 CFR 1272.

No, this rule does not affect products already owned by consumers. The CPSC does not regulate how consumers use or enjoy their products.