CPSIA Requirement for Testing and Certification of Children's Books Delayed

February 2, 2009

News broke Friday, January 30, that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to delay implementation until February, 2010 of the third-party testing and the certification of children's products as instructed by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

The CPSC January 30 news release stated the commission was issuing a, "a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers
of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger."

Also included in the announcement was an additional piece of information about implementation of the CPSIA that shows the Orwellian/Catch 22 nature of the legislative and regulatory world. The news release said that: "Manufacturers and importers – large and small – of children’s products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements."

What this seems to be saying is that manufacturers don't have to test and certify, but the agency will enforce the the lead and phthalate levels outlined in the law after February 10, 2009. Since all data on "ordinary books" coming from the printers and their associations show that books are already at safe levels, I would say publishers of paper books don't have to worry about this "catch". If a book is accompanied by a toy or other non-paper item or if the book is printed on plastic, parts of the product might not meet the new standards and there may be cause for
concern.

This is good news for publishers. At the same time we need to keep working to have books excluced from the requirements of the CPSIA.

Read the CPSC news release here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

Learn more at SPANnet:
http://www.spannet.org/cpsia-info-2009.htm