CPSC Reform Legislation Before President for Signing into Law

On Wednesday, July 30, H.R. 4040, the conference report to the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008" passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 424 - 1. Late Thursday, July 31, the conference report passed in the Senate by a vote of 89 - 3. The President is expected to sign the bill into law in the next several weeks. Among other reform measures, the Act calls for broad changes in children's products safety and CPSC enforcement authority. Some notable provisions include:

• Defining children's products as those intended for use by children 12 years old and younger
• Enacting a progressive ban on lead in children's products
• Permanently banning three types of phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP) concentrations above 0.1 percent while temporarily banning three others (DINP, DIDP, DnOP) in children's products
• Additional requirements on certain children's products and toys including tracking labels, third party testing and advertising and labeling rules
• Requiring manufacturers of durable infant and toddler products to provide consumers with a postage-paid consumer registration form with each such product
• Establishing a publicly available, searchable, accessible database of consumer reports of harm
• Broadening CPSC authority to recall products and modify corrective action plans
• Enhancing CPSC authority to identify complete supply chains
• Significantly increasing civil penalties to $100,000 per violation or up to $15 million for a related series of violations as well as increasing criminal penalties from a maximum of one year to a maximum of five years