Consumer Product Safety Certification IOM Workshop on Certification April 13, 2010 This presentation has not been reviewed or approved by the Commission and may not reflect its views 1
What Products Must Be Certified? Before August 2008, certification was required only for consumer products subject to standards promulgated by the Commission under the Consumer Product Safety Act. The 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA( CPSIA) ) expanded the certification requirement to all products subject to bans as well as standards under the CPSA, or to any similar rule, ban, standard, or regulation under any other Act enforced by CPSC. 2
What Types of Rules Are Covered? CPSA standards and bans: For example, the lead paint ban, 16 C.F.R. part 1303 The toy standard (previously voluntary, made mandatory 2/10/2009) FHSA bans and requirements The ban on small parts Lead content limits as of 2/10/2009 FFA flammability standards PPPA special packaging standards ASME drain cover standards and ASTM portable gasoline container standards made mandatory 3
Who Must Certify? Section 14 requires certification by every manufacturer and every private labeler of a product that is subject to a covered rule and which is imported for consumption or warehousing or distributed in commerce The Consumer Product Safety Act defines the term manufacturer to include both a manufacturer and an importer 4
Limits on Multi-Party Certification Where there is more than one manufacturer or private labeler of a product, the law allows the Commission, by rule, to assign the responsibility for certification to one (or more) of these entities and to exempt all others In November 2008, the Commission exempted foreign manufacturers and all private labelers from responsibility for certification; therefore: Products made in US: the manufacturer must certify Products made elsewhere: the importer must certify 5
What Testing Is Required As a Basis for Certification? Generally, certification must be based on a test of each product or a reasonable testing program defined by the manufacturer The Commission may prescribe a reasonable testing program for a class of products CPSIA authorizes CPSC by rule to require that testing be done by an independent third party For children s s products,, Congress set a schedule under which all certification must eventually be based on third-party testing 6
What Is a Children s s Product? The term children s s product is defined as a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. In deciding what is a children s s product, CPSC must consider: (1) what the manufacturer says if reasonable ; ; (2) whether the product is represented as appropriate for children under 13 in its packaging, advertising, etc.; (3) whether the product is commonly recognized as intended for children under 13; and (4) the CPSC s s own Age Determination Guidelines 7
Third-Party Testing For children s s products, as defined by CPSIA, certification will eventually have to be based on testing by an accredited, third-party laboratory Note: 3PT not third-party certification The requirement for third-party testing is triggered by the Commission s s issuance of requirements for the accreditation of laboratories to test to a particular standard 8
Accreditation The law requires the Commission to establish requirements for accreditation of third party conformity assessment bodies in the case of each rule applicable to children s s product. The Commission may choose either to accredit the conformity assessment bodies itself or to designate an independent accreditation organization. 9
Baseline Accreditation Requirements To date, the Commission has followed the same approach to accreditation for each standard: Labs must be accredited by an accreditation body that is a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Mutual Recognition Arrangement ( ILAC-MRA ) Accreditation must be to ISO Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories and the scope of the accreditation must expressly include the appropriate CPSC standard, ban or test method. 10
Special Accreditation Requirements Additional accreditation requirements apply in the case of proprietary laboratories and government laboratories Proprietary laboratories must be firewalled and establish special procedures for ensuring independence of affiliated manufacturing firms Laboratories that are owned or controlled by a government may qualify if they are free of undue influence and are not given unfair advantages. 11
CPSC Recognized Labs 12
Fee Structure CPSC does not charge a fee for any of its activities relating to certification Testing fees are set by the individual laboratories and are not regulated by the CPSC Many factors can affect fees: the complexity of the product and the standard, the volume of testing for a particular entity 13
Continuing Validity The law specifies that a certificate applies only to a product that is identical in all material respects to the product that was tested. The law also requires the Commission to establish requirements for periodic testing Commission staff has proposed annual testing except that production testing would not be required until 10,000 units have been produced since the initial or subsequent test. 14
Availability of Certificates Certificates must accompany each product or shipment of products covered by the same certificate A copy of the certificate must be furnished to each distributor or retailer of the product (no requirement to provide to ultimate consumer) A copy of the certificate must be made available to the Commission and Customs upon request 15
Electronic Certificates The Commission by rule has confirmed that certificates in electronic form can accompany a product and be furnished to retailers Key requirements: Certificate must be created no later than the time of shipment to US or first distribution within US The certificate must be reasonably accessible from information on the product or accompanying the shipment; can be transmitted with Customs docs 16
Certification Violations CPSA Section 19(a)(6) makes it unlawful for any person either: to fail to furnish a certificate required by section 14; or to issue a false certificate if the issuer in exercise of due care has reason to know it is false or misleading in any material respect Knowing violations of section 19 are subject to civil penalties; knowing and willful violations could lead to imprisonment 17
Lead Paint Recalls and Port Stops (FY 2007 through FY 2009)
Thank You Office of Compliance & Field Operations Gib Mullan, Director JMullan@cpsc.gov 19
Content of Certificates Certificates must: identify the party issuing the certificate and any third party on whose testing the certificate depends, by name, address and phone number Note: not required to name a foreign manufacturer unless they voluntarily choose to certify a component specify each applicable standard, ban, etc. spell out the date and place where the product was manufactured and date and place of testing show contact information for person maintaining test records 20
Certification vs. Compliance Certification never exempts any product from the requirement to comply with an applicable rule, standard, ban or regulation. Manufacturers (including importers), distributors and retailers must report to the CPSC immediately if they learn that one of their products fails to comply with an applicable rule A person holding a certificate of compliance may have a defense in a non-compliance case 21
Schedule for Certification of Children s Products Based on Third-Party Testing Lead paint ban = children s s products bearing paint or similar surface coating, manufactured after 12/21/08 Crib standards = full-size and non full-size cribs manufactured after 1/20/09 Pacifier standard = articles manufactured after 1/20/09 Small parts ban = products age graded for children under 36 months and manufactured after 2/15/09 Lead content limits = metal portions of children s jewelry manufactured after 3/22/09 22
Are All Imports Covered? Certification is required for products that are imported for consumption or warehousing This may not include certain products that are imported for testing, for trade show displays or for re-export export The certification requirement would apply, however, if any of these products is later introduced into US commerce 23
When Is Certification Required? The amendments to section 14 became effective November 12, 2008 Products that were already imported or distributed in commerce by that date need not be certified (unless covered under prior law) Certification is required for products that are manufactured after November 12, 2008 or, in the case of standards taking effect later, for products manufactured after the effective date Commission has stayed enforcement of the certification requirement in several cases 24