The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted in favor of lowering lead limits in children’s products to 100 parts-per-million (ppm) on July 13. In a 3-2 vote along party lines, the commission found in favor of upholding the 100 ppm originally mandated by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The new limits take effect on August 14, 2011.
CPSIA declared that the lead limit for “children’s products,” defined as items intended primarily for children 12 and under, must have the lead content in substrates reduced to 100 ppm by August 2011, down from the 300 ppm limit from August 2009, unless it was deemed technologically infeasible to do so. A public hearing was held in February to address the feasibility of the more stringent regulations. Despite an outcry from the business community, CPSC staffers found the 100 ppm limit to be feasible for all children’s products.
The 100 ppm limit, which was included in the original 2008 act, is not exclusive to new products. On the enforcement date, the law will also apply to items produced prior to August 14. Consequently, items which currently meet the 300 ppm limit, but not the 100 ppm limit, will be illegal to sell on August 14.
Manufacturers, suppliers and retailers have expressed concerns about the more stringent regulation, which changes the permissible lead limit from 0.03 percent to 0.01 percent. “Overwhelming costs imposed by the new standard will disproportionately affect smaller companies,” the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety, an industry watchdog group, said in a statement. “Most importantly, on the other side of the ledger, the CPSC admits the health benefits of the new standard will be ‘minimal.'”
Stay tuned to PromoMarketing.com for more on CPSIA and what it means for your business.
