Client Alert
CPSC Stays Certain Testing and Certification Requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act
February 11, 2009
Products Liability Group
Citing substantial confusion about compliance, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission) will stay enforcement of certain testing and certification requirements mandated by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) that were set to take effect on February 10, 2009. Specifically, the Commission will stay select requirements of section 14(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended by section 102(a) of the CPSIA, that require testing and issuance of certificates of compliance by manufacturers, including importers, of products subject to an applicable consumer product safety rule as defined in the CPSA or similar rule, ban, standard, or regulation under any other Act enforced by the Commission. The Commission decided to stay these requirements until February 10, 2010 because it determined that compliance is not currently feasible. By issuing the stay, the Commission recognized that the CPSIA ushered in new and sweeping testing and certification requirements that threw the private sector into chaos over how to comply. Indeed, the Commission noted literally thousands of inquiries regarding the practicalities of compliance and innumerable requests for exemptions.