We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Learn more here.Close Me
Both the House and the Senate passed HR 2715, which modifies the
2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA or Act). The
bill received nearly unanimous support in the House and unanimous
Senate approval. The president is expected to sign the bill before
August 14.
The bill would modify the CPSIA in a number of significant ways,
including:
The bill clarifies that the Act's 100 ppm lead content
limit for children's products applies only to products
manufactured after August 14, 2011. The CPSC had previously
interpreted these lead limits to be retroactive, meaning that
children's products containing more than 100 ppm lead content
could not be sold after August 14, irrespective of the manufacture
date.
The bill gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
more flexibility and authority to grant exemptions from the
Act's lead requirements based on practicability or
feasibility.
The bill allows the CPSC to change its present method of
determining the harm to public health from blood lead level testing
to an alternative method if the alternative method is determined to
be a better measure of public health.
The bill requires the CPSC to consider ways of reducing the
amount of required third-party testing, especially redundant
testing of a product imported by two different companies.
The bill replaces the requirement of "random" sample
product testing with a less burdensome requirement of
"representative" sample product testing.
The bill exempts printed materials and books from third-party
testing requirements.
The bill changes the CPSC's phthalate testing requirements
to apply to product components that are accessible based on
foreseeable use and misuse and to those product components that may
actually contain phthalates.
The bill gives the CPSC authority to exempt certain products
from the CPSIA's tracking label requirements. Specifically, the
CPSC may exempt products from the CPSIA's labeling requirements
if such labeling is deemed impracticable.
Finally, the bill changes the way that the CPSC handles claims
of material inaccuracy in information received for publication in
its publicly available consumer product safety information
database. Presently, the CPSC can publish information that is
claimed to be materially inaccurate prior to making a ruling on
that claim. Under the bill, the CPSC must refrain from publishing
any report or comment for five days after receiving a claim that
the information contains a material inaccuracy.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered on Mondaq.com.
Click to Login as an existing user or Register so you can print this article.
In this week’s episode of "As the CFPB Turns" questions remain regarding Director(?) Richard Cordray’s constitutional authority to act as the Director of the CFPB.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a guidance bulletinannouncing that it will treat indirect auto lenders as creditors subject to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it had settled enforcement actions against four insurance companies in connection with alleged improper payments between the insurance companies and mortgage lenders.
