Process
Introduction of CPSIA Standards
CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Committee) is the abbreviation of the US Consumer Product Safety Committee. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was established in 1972. Its responsibility is to protect the interests of consumers and maintain personal and family safety by reducing the risk of injury and death in consumer products. The main function of the CPSC is to formulate producer self-discipline standards, and to formulate mandatory standards or prohibitions for consumer products that have no standards to follow. Perform inspections on potentially dangerous products, and feedback opinions to consumers through various channels including the media, state, local governments, and individual groups. CPSC is now responsible for the safety monitoring of more than 15,000 consumer products.
CPSIA is the Security Improvement Act signed by US President Bush on August 14, 2008. The Act is the most stringent consumer protection act since the establishment of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1972. In addition to stricter requirements for lead content in children's products, the new bill also sets new regulations on the content of harmful substances in toys and child care products. In addition, the bill requires the establishment of a public database on consumer product safety.
Regulation Content
The CPSIA regulations are divided into two parts. The first part concerns "Children's Product Safety" and the second part concerns "Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform". The first part involves the following chapters:
- Section 101. Children’s product containing lead; Lead paint rule
- Section 102. Mandatory third party testing for certain children’s product
- Section 103. Tracking labels for children’s products
- Section 104. Standards and consumer registration of durable nursery products
- Section 105. Labeling requirement for advertising toys and games
- Section 106. Mandatory toy safety standards
- Section 107. Study of preventable injuries and death in minority children related to consumer products
- Section 108. Prohibition on sale of certain products containing specified phthalates
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) final rule (16 CFR 1307) restricting certain phthalates in toys and child care products was published in the Federal Register on October 27, 2017. The final rule take effect on April 25, 2018. According to 16 CFR 1307, the components of toys and child care products shall not exceed 0.1% of phthalates:
DEHP di-(2-ethylhexl) phthalates
DBP dibutyl phthalates
BBP benzyl butyl phthalates
DINP diisononyl phthalates
DPENP di-n-pentyl phthalates (generally call as DnPP)
DHEXP di-n-hexyl phthalates (generally call as DnHP)
DCHP dicyclohexyl phthalates
DIBP diisobutyl phthalates
This rule (b) is based on the recommendations of the Chronic Hazard Advisory Group (CHAP), which reviewed the health effects of phthalates in children’s toys and childcare products. According to the CHAP report, CPSC mostly determined that these five phthalate chemicals are harmful to male reproductive development.
The final rule brings the total number of phthalates restricted to children’s toys and childcare products to 8, and the concentration must not exceed 0.1%.