Per 16 CFR § 1110.7, except as otherwise stated in a specific standard or regulation, the domestic manufacturer or importer (for products manufactured overseas) is responsible for drafting and issuing the GCC based upon a passing test results of each product or a reasonable testing program. Unlike children’s products, general use products do not require third-party testing by a CPSC-accepted laboratory; passing first party testing or third-party testing by a non-CPSC-accepted laboratory is acceptable to support a GCC. In cases when an importer issues the certificate, the importer does not need to be located physically within the United States, nor do they need to list a US-based address to comply with elements 3 and/or 4 of the GCC.
The domestic manufacturer or importer of a general-use product that is subject to product safety rules or other standards is always legally responsible for issuing a GCC, even if a third-party laboratory, or another third party, drafts of assists with drafting the GCC.
Products subject to a consumer product safety rule, or a similar rule, ban, standard, or regulation under any other CPSC-enforced statute, require testing and certification. A list of rules requiring testing and a GCC is found here. Manufacturers and importers of any general-use consumer products subject to one of the listed requirements must issue a GCC. However, if the general-use consumer product is not subject to one of the listed requirements, then a GCC is likely not required.
Creating a GCC has no cost. The domestic manufacturer or importer may draft the GCC using a word processing software or other similar software. Our GCC business guidance page provides instructions on how to draft a GCC (including examples of CPCs), and the list of citations that require testing and certification to be included in element 2 of a GCC, as applicable, can be found here. Some laboratories and consultants may offer to draft or assist with drafting a GCC for a fee, but their assistance is optional. The CPSC’s Small Business Ombudsman is available to offer assistance for no charge.
CPSC does not require certificates to be filed with the agency at this time, and so no cost to file exists. Rather, certificates must be provided to CPSC upon request. Typically, firms email certificates to CPSC in PDF format.
CPSC is working on an eFiling initiative where importers of regulated consumer products may electronically file certificates of compliance. For more information on eFiling, visit www.cpsc.gov/eFiling.
Section 14(g)(3) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) requires GCCs to be “furnished” to distributors and retailers. Additionally, a copy of the GCCs must also be provided immediately (within 24 hours) upon request by CPSC and Customs.
The requirement to “furnish” the GCC is satisfied if the manufacturer or importer provides its distributors and retailers a reasonable means to access the certificate, either physically or electronically. CPSC has codified requirements for electronic GCCs at 16 CFR § 1110.13.
The law still requires domestic manufacturers or importers to test and certify products that are sold and shipped directly to consumers. CPSC does not require you to provide the certificate to consumers.
The GCC must be based on a test of each product or a reasonable testing program. Unlike children’s products, general-use products do not have to be tested using a third-party, CPSC-accepted laboratory and may, instead, be tested for compliance by the manufacturer or a non-CPSC-accepted laboratory.
16 CFR part 1109 also allows for certification based on component part testing or certification, or a third party’s finished product testing or certification as long as certain conditions are met.
Yes. Our GCC business guidance page provides example GCCs. You are not required to, but you may, copy the layout and title the document “General Certificate of Conformity” or “GCC” and include the details pertinent to your product. You may also use your own format or layout as long as it includes the seven required elements.
CPSC does not require you to file a GCC with the agency at this time
CPSC is working on an eFiling initiative where importers of regulated consumer products may electronically file certificates of compliance. For more information on eFiling, visit www.cpsc.gov/eFiling.
Yes. Electronic certificates are acceptable provided that CPSC staff has reasonable access to them (if requested), they contain all of the information required by section 14(g) of the CPSA, and they comply with any additional requirements for electronic certificates per 16 CFR § 1110.13.
It depends. If each shipment is materially unchanged from the prior shipment, a single GCC may be acceptable; however, the GCC would need to describe the date range of products covered using either batch/lot information or other identifying information (such as actual dates).
One GCC may apply to (or “cover”) multiple batches or lots of productions if the firm has exercised an appropriate level of due care to ensure the continued compliance of each additional batch or lot of production with all applicable consumer product safety rules.
For each new shipment or unit of production entering commerce, the GCC would need to be updated to reflect the new batch.
At this time, the Commission has not issued a regulation defining the general requirements for a "reasonable testing program" for all general-use consumer products. The staff guidance provided below describing a reasonable testing program suggests best practices for a reasonable testing program, but the guidance is not mandatory.
The following list of mandatory standards comprises CPSC regulations that contain the requirements for a reasonable testing program in the particular standard:
- 16 CFR part 1610, Standard for the flammability of clothing textiles
- 16 CFR part 1203, Safety standard for bicycle helmets
- 16 CFR part 1204, Safety standard for omnidirectional citizens band base station antennas
- 16 CFR part 1205, Safety standard for walk-behind power lawn mowers
- 16 CFR part 1209, Safety standard for cellulose insulation
- 16 CFR part 1210, Safety standard for cigarette lighters
- 16 CFR part 1211, Safety standard for automatic residential garage door operators
- 16 CFR part 1212, Safety standard for multipurpose lighters
If your product is not listed above and it is subject to another consumer product safety rule or other standard, you may consider the following staff guidance when establishing your company's reasonable testing program:
- A reasonable testing program should provide a manufacturer or importer with a high degree of assurance that its consumer product complies with the applicable consumer product safety rule or standard.
- A reasonable testing program should be in writing and should be approved by the senior management of the manufacturer (or importer). In addition, you may wish to consider maintaining your records on file in a manner similar to the recordkeeping requirements that apply to children's products.
- A reasonable testing program should be based on the considered judgment and reasoning of the manufacturer (or importer) concerning the number, frequency, and methods of tests to be conducted on the products. The reasons should be reasonable assumptions for the industry in which the manufacturer (or importer) operates, including such factors as the nature and length of the manufacturer's relationship with their vendors and suppliers, and for the types of materials and processes used in production, including the potential for variability in those materials or processes. In other words, a product with fewer components and with a lower risk of variability in those components (e.g., a dyed t-shirt) would likely have a very different testing program than a product with many more components and for which those components have a higher risk of variability (e.g., chemical products involving a mixture of hazardous or potentially hazardous or volatile substances).
You should also check out CPSC’s proposed rule that would establish requirements for a reasonable testing program: 75 FR 28335. While not a mandatory requirement, the proposed rule provides some guidance that may be helpful for firms to develop their own reasonable testing program.
No. A firm may use a third-party, CPSC-accepted laboratory to test its consumer product to applicable rules and standards; however, there is no requirement that a manufacturer or importer of general-use products use such a laboratory to conduct its testing.
General use products do not have a periodic testing requirement; however, products must remain compliant, and the certificate must remain accurate. Therefore, CPSC recommends manufacturers and importers of general use products to retest your consumer product periodically, typically yearly, and whenever there is a material change to the product.
Any material changes (such as changing the paint, metal, fabrics, or component part) or changing the product's design or manufacturing process could render the product noncompliant. In that situation, you should retest for compliance to those rules affected by the material change. You may also need to update your GCC.
You must ensure that your consumer product complies with the regulatory requirements at all times.
No; however, CPSC staff suggests, but does not require, that you consider putting a reasonable testing plan in place that provides you with a high degree of assurance that your product is compliant with applicable consumer product safety rules.
A company may institute controls over incoming materials into its factory, process controls on the manufacturing floor, management controls to minimize variance and risk, and other techniques to have a high degree of assurance about the continued compliance of its goods. Each company will need to analyze its own procedures to determine the appropriate frequency of testing in its reasonable testing plan.
You should retest your production batch any time a material change has been made that could impact compliance of the product with any applicable consumer product safety rules or similar rules, bans, standards, or regulations under any law enforced by the Commission for that product. Also, if you are uncertain about whether there have been material changes, then it is likely you will need to test each batch or shipment in order to certify your product properly. This is a decision you need to make with care, considering what you know about the reliability of your supply chain and the manufacturing process.
A material change is a change that the manufacturer makes to a product's design, to the manufacturing process, or to the source of component parts for the product, which a manufacturer, exercising due care, knows, or should know, could affect the product's ability to comply with the applicable consumer product safety rules or other standards.
If you think that you may have made a material change to your general-use product, you should retest the product for compliance to the applicable consumer product safety rule or other standard. After the testing, you may need to issue a new GCC, based upon the results of the testing.
Not necessarily. Component part testing may be sufficient for a material change to only one component. When there is a material change to a component part of a product that does not affect other component parts, and it does not affect the finished product's ability to comply with other applicable consumer product safety rules, then a manufacturer may issue a new GCC based upon the earlier tests, along with the new test results for the materially changed component part. If, however, a component part is changed that may affect compliance of the finished product, then the whole product may need to be retested.
Periodic testing is testing that is conducted on products that are in continuing production, after the initial certification of a consumer product.
Periodic testing is mandatory for children's products per 16 CFR § 1107.21. Periodic testing is not a requirement for general-use products, but manufacturers may voluntarily choose to engage in periodic testing. You can learn more about periodic testing as it relates to children's products and consider how you might apply those principles to your general-use products by visiting our periodic testing FAQs.
Yes. You may rely on component part testing to satisfy the requirement to have your general-use products tested or subjected to a reasonable testing program.
The Commission issued a rule on the use of component part testing. Although component part testing is voluntary, those manufacturers that rely on component part testing should follow the component part testing rule, including the exercise of due care. In order to rely on component part testing from a supplier, at a minimum, the supplier must provide you with access to copies of the test results as well as their reasonable testing program. In addition, the information provided by your supplier must provide you with a high degree of assurance that the supplied component part complies with the applicable consumer product safety rule and that you can, in turn, issue a GCC.
Learn more about component part testing at 16 CFR part 1109 and our component part testing business guidance page.
Testing of the component part or a reasonable testing program for the component part must be sufficient to certify compliance of the product to the applicable consumer product safety rule or other standard. In certain situations, a component part test may not be sufficient for a consumer product for which testing in its finished state is part of the consumer product safety rule, e.g., in the case of mattress flammability testing of the final assembled mattress. Certifiers are responsible for ensuring that all required certification testing has been completed before issuing a GCC.
The revised 16 CFR part 1110 states that the importer responsible for certificates is the Importer of Record (IOR) who is eligible to make entry for imported finished products under the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(2)(B)). The IOR may be an owner, purchaser, or authorized customs broker. If the IOR is an authorized customs broker, the customs broker may identify the owner, purchaser, or consignee of the finished products who authorized the customs broker to make entry as the party responsible for compliance with CPSC certificate requirements as part of the electronically filed (eFiled) finished product certificate data.
For finished products imported by mail, or for which a de minimis duty exemption under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) is claimed, the revised 16 CFR part 1110 states that the importer for purposes of CPSC’s certificate requirements is a party eligible to make entry for the finished products pursuant to CBP statutes and regulations, who may be an owner, purchaser, consignee, or authorized customs broker. Accordingly, for direct-to-consumer shipments that are imported or shipments subject to a de minimis duty exemption, the foreign firm may meet the definition of an importer as they would be the owner or purchaser of the products.
For purposes of this rule, CPSC will not typically consider a consumer purchasing or receiving products for personal use or enjoyment to be the importer responsible for certification.