Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 111/2/21

18 August 2009

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 425/2009

US : Notice of Availability of a Statement of Policy: Testing of Component Parts With Respect to Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 Regarding Prohibition on Phthalates

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced in the Federal Register (FR) notice of 17 August 2009 the availability of a document titled "Statement of Policy: Testing of Component Parts With Respect to Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act" (Statement of Policy). Interested parties may submit comments on the Statement of Policy to the CPSC by 16 September 2009. A copy (pdf format) of the FR notice is appended to this circular for reference.

DETAILS

1.  
2. The trade was informed via Commercial Information Circular No. 103/2009 that the CPSC published in the FR of 23 February 2009 a notice of availability regarding a draft guidance discussing which children's products are subject to the requirements of Section 108 of the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The notice invited comment on various questions and also on the CPSC's test method for phthalates. The test method "Test Method: CPSC-CH-C1001-09.1 - Standard Operating Procedure for Determination of Phthalates, dated 3 March 2009" generated some controversy in that it suggested testing the entire product or testing components and then mathematically combining the results. The CPSC has re-examined the question of product testing and has prepared a document titled "Statement of Policy: Testing of Component Parts with Respect to Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act". The Statement of Policy establishes the CPSC's position with respect to testing products to determine whether they contain phthalates in excess of the statutory limits. In the Statement of Policy, the CPSC states that it believes that phthalate testing should be limited to those plastic parts or other product parts which could conceivably contain phthalates ("plasticized component parts"). Traders may refer to the following CPSC website at
   http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/componenttestingpolicy.pdf for details of the Statement of Policy.
    
3. The CPSC staff has also prepared a new document, entitled "Test Method: CPSC-CH-C1001-09.2 - Standard Operating Procedure for Determination of Phthalates, dated 27 July 2009", providing detailed information on test methods that will be used by the CPSC testing laboratory (Laboratory Sciences, Division of Chemistry) for the analysis of phthalate content in child care items and toys. The document is available at the website of CPSC: http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/CPSC-CH-C1001-09.2.pdf. As specified in its footnote, this document was prepared by CPSC staff, has not been reviewed or approved by, and may not necessarily reflect the views of, the CPSC.

ENQUIRIES

4. For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at 2398 5682.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Bonny CHAO)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry