Stay of Enforcement for Testing Until December 31, 2011

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted 5-0 on July 20 to approve new third party testing requirements, through a notice of requirements, to ensure the safety of children's toys. While the toy industry has had to comply with mandatory toy safety requirements for more than two years, the Commission voted to give manufacturers, importers and private labelers additional time to put a third party testing program into place.

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CPSC has approved a stay of enforcement on the requirement for third party testing and certification of children's toys until December 31, 2011. The Commission will enforce third party testing and certification of compliance based on the testing for toys manufactured or imported after that date.

In the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), Congress required that the existing voluntary standard become a mandatory standard and directed CPSC to require testing to that standard.  In May 2009, the Commission adopted the updated voluntary ASTM standard known as F 963-08 as the mandatory safety standard for toys and ASTM F 963-07-1 as the mandatory safety standard for toy chests.

Safeguards in the mandatory toy standard strive to eliminate electrical, thermal and mechanical hazards, including cuts from broken wires, strangulations from long cords, burns from heating elements, shocks from electrical circuits and suffocations from hemispherical-shaped objects.

Commissioner's Statements: Chairman Inez Tenenbaum and Commissioner Nancy Nord (both PDF).

CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

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