Commercial Information Circulars

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Ref : EIC 111/2/21

2 November 2009

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 546/2009

US : Requirements for Accreditation of Third Party Conformity Assessment Bodies to Assess Conformity with the Limits on Total Lead in Children's Products 

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a notice of requirements in the Federal Register (FR) of 29 October 2009 providing the criteria and process for CPSC acceptance of accreditation of third party conformity assessment bodies for testing pursuant to the limits on total lead in children's products. These accreditation requirements became effective on 29 October 2009 but the CPSC will stay its enforcement of these accreditation requirements at least until 10 February 2010. Interested parties may submit comments on the accreditation requirements to the CPSC by 30 November 2009. A copy of the FR notice is at Annex A (pdf format) to this circular for reference.

2. Separately, the CPSC is seeking comments on a proposed collection of information regarding a form (CPSC Form 223) that will be used to identify third party conformity assessment bodies that meet the requirements to test for compliance to specified children's product safety rules. Details are set out in the FR notice at Annex B (pdf format). Interested parties may submit comments to the CPSC not later than 28 December 2009.

DETAILS

3. Section 14(a)(3)(B)(vi) of the US Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), as added by Section 102(a)(2) of the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), directs the CPSC to publish a notice of requirements for accreditation of third party conformity assessment bodies to assess children's products for conformity with "other children's product safety rules". Section 14(f)(1) of the CPSA defines "children's product safety rule" as "a consumer product safety rule under [the CPSA] or similar rule, regulation, standard, or ban under any other Act enforced by the CPSC, including a rule declaring a consumer product to be a banned hazardous product or substance". Under Section 14(a)(3)(A) of the CPSA, each manufacturer (including the importer) or private labeller of products subject to those regulations must have products that are manufactured more than 90 days after the CPSC's publication of the applicable accreditation rule tested by a third party conformity assessment body accredited to do so and must issue a certificate of compliance with the applicable regulations based on that testing. However, the CPSC will stay its enforcement of these accreditation requirements at least until 10 February 2010; the date reflects the stay of enforcement that the CPSC published in the FR on 9 February 2009.
    

4. The FR notice of 29 October 2009 provides the criteria and process for CPSC acceptance of accreditation of third party conformity assessment bodies for testing pursuant to the following test methods: 

• CPSC–CH–E1001–08, Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Total Lead (Pb) in Children's Metal Products (Including Children's Metal Jewelry), issued 4 December 2008; and
   

• CPSC–CH–E1002–08, Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Total Lead (Pb) in Non-Metal Children's Products, issued 1 February 2009.

Accreditation Requirements

5. For a third party conformity assessment body to be accredited to test children's products for conformity with the test methods identified in the FR notice of 29 October 2009, it must be accredited by an International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation - Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ILAC–MRA) signatory accrediting body, and the accreditation must be registered with, and accepted by, the CPSC. A listing of ILAC–MRA signatory accrediting bodies is available on the Internet at http://ilac.org/membersbycategory.html. The accreditation must be to the International Organization for Standardization (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 testing to CPSC–CH–E1001–08 and/or CPSC–CH–E1002–08. A true copy, in English, of the accreditation and scope documents demonstrating compliance with these requirements must be registered with the CPSC electronically. Conformity assessment bodies owned by manufacturers or private labeller may also be accredited if they can show that they are firewalled and are freed from undue influence from their parent companies. There are additional requirements for governmental conformity assessment bodies.

Limited acceptance of children's product certifications based on third party conformity assessment body testing prior to the CPSC's acceptance of accreditation

6. The CPSC will accept a certificate of compliance to the total lead content limits established by the CPSIA for children's products and tested in accordance with CPSC–CH–E1001–08 and/or CPSC–CH–E1002–08, which is based on testing performed by an accredited third party conformity assessment body (including a government-owned/controlled conformity assessment body, and a firewalled conformity assessment body) if: 

• at the time of product testing, the product was tested by a third party conformity assessment body that was ISO/IEC 17025 accredited by an ILAC–MRA member at the time of the test. For firewalled conformity assessment bodies, the firewalled conformity assessment body must be one that the CPSC has accredited by order at or before the time the product was tested, even if the order did not include the test methods specified in the FR notice of 29 October 2009; 
   

• the third party conformity assessment body's application for testing for total lead content in children's products using the test methods identified in the FR notice of 29 October 2009 is accepted by the CPSC by 31 December 2009 or 30 days before the CPSC terminates the stay of enforcement that was originally announced in the FR on 9 February 2009, whichever is the later date;
   

• the product was tested on or after 4 December 2008 with respect to CPSC test method CPSC–CH–E1001–08 and/or was tested on or after 1 February 2009 with respect to CPSC test method CPSC–CH–E1002–08;
   

• the accreditation scope in effect for the third party conformity assessment body at that time expressly included testing to the test methods identified in the FR notice of 29 October 2009;
   

• the test results show compliance with the applicable current standards and regulations (i.e., the total lead limits in effect on the day the certification is presented, rather than those in effect on the day that the testing was performed); and
   

• the third party conformity assessment body's accreditation and inclusion of the test methods identified in the FR notice of 29 October 2009 for determining total lead content in its scope remain in effect through the effective date for mandatory third party testing and manufacturer/private labeller certification for the total lead limit requirements for children's products.

7. The CPSC staff is continuing to evaluate which rules, regulations, standards, or bans are "children's product safety rules". The CPSC intends to issue additional notices of accreditation requirements for other rules which the CPSC determines to be "children's product safety rules". Traders are advised to regularly visit the Information Page on the CPSIA on the CPSC's website at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html to keep touch of further developments of the issue. 

ENQUIRIES

8. 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