CPSC to Vote on Request for Emergency Stay of the Effective Date for Lead Content Limits
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has indicated that it would vote by February 9, 2009 on the recent request from the Consumer Product Safety Commission Coalition of the National Association of Manufacturers (the NAM Coalition) regarding lead in children’s products. On January 28, 2009, the NAM Coalition requested that the Commission issue an immediately effective emergency rule staying the effective date of limits on lead content in accessible parts and components in children’s products established under Section 101(a)(2) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). Section 101(a)(2) of the CPSIA imposes a lead content limit of 600 parts per million (ppm) for children’s products beginning February 10, 2009. This limit will decrease to 300 ppm on August 14, 2009. The length of the requested stay is 185 days, or until 90 days after the Commission issues final rules and regulations interpreting Section 101, if later. The NAM Coalition’s request is signed by 67 organizations and associations representing a wide variety of consumer industries.
According to the NAM Coalition’s request, Section 3 of the CPSIA provides CPSC with the legal authority to issue regulations to implement the Act, including an emergency rule to stay the effective date of the lead content limits. The request notes that compliance with the new lead content requirements under the CPSIA “will be a practical impossibility” for companies on February 10, 2009, particularly because the four proposed rulemakings on lead and the CPSC-designated procedures to test for lead content in materials other than metal in children’s jewelry and lead in paint will not be resolved before that date. Without this guidance, many companies will not be able to determine whether their products comply with the new lead limit, which ultimately could lead to “massive disruption” in the distribution and retail system.
It is unclear whether the Commission will grant the NAM Coalition’s request. Yet, in a January 30, 2009 statement on the Commission’s recent stay of enforcement of certain testing and certification requirements of the CPSIA, Acting Chairman Nancy Nord emphasized that it is up to Congress to address the underlying product safety requirements for lead, phthalates, and certain other toy standards.
Arent Fox will continue to monitor the NAM Coalition’s request. Please contact any of the individuals below if you have questions regarding the request or the CPSIA in general.
Related Document:
Georgia Ravitz
ravitz.georgia@arentfox.com
202.857.8939
James R. Ravitz
ravitz.james@arentfox.com
202.857.8903
Scott A. Cohn
cohn.scott@arentfox.com
212.484.3984
Robert G. Edwards
edwards.robert@arentfox.com
202.857.6346
Amy S. Colvin
colvin.amy@arentfox.com
202.857.6338