WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) Executive Director Ralph Vasami issued the following statement today:

WCMA is initiating the process to revise the current voluntary window covering safety standard to effectively address the strangulation risk to children from products with accessible cords.

As a result of technological advances in the industry, WCMA is optimistic that there is a historic opportunity for this updated standard to further reduce the risk of entanglement and strangulation from window coverings with accessible cords. Ongoing industry innovation and new product development have resulted in the industry's ability to deliver a variety of consumer accepted options that will allow WCMA to revise the standard using new approaches that will effectively address the risk posed to young children by window coverings with accessible cords. We are also confident that the performance standard created by such an approach will result in the vast majority of window products sold in the U.S. being cordless or having inaccessible cords.

WCMA intends to request an open technical meeting with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff as soon as possible to discuss scope and approaches to updating the standard. Upon completion of the technical meeting, WCMA will hold its first in a series of standard-setting meetings in accordance with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines, with a goal to develop and submit for ballot the revised standard by the end of 2016. As we previously announced, the associations will also take this opportunity to investigate the possibility of developing a joint standard with the Canadian Standards Association and the Standards Council of Canada to ensure regulatory consistency between the U.S. and Canada.

While WCMA has a great deal of work to do in the next six months, manufacturers are confident that working with representatives from CPSC and Health Canada, as well as representatives from consumer groups, and all facets of the window covering industry, achieving our shared goal of a revised standard that further addresses the hazards and reduces the risk to young children associated with window coverings with accessible cords. 

To learn more about the voluntary standard for corded window covering products, please visit http://www.wcmanet.org/wcmastandard.html.

About WCMA
Organized in the 1950s as the Venetian Blind Council, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) represents the interests of the window covering industry manufacturers, fabricators and assemblers. Industry products include blinds, shades, shutters, curtains, curtain rods, drapes, drapery hardware and other window treatments. Visit us on the web at www.wcmanet.org

Media Contact:
Paul Nathanson
202-828-1714
Paul.Nathanson@policyres.com

SOURCE Window Covering Manufacturers Association

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