Table of Contents
Certificates of Conformity
What is certification of children's products?
Certification means the issuance of a written Children's Product Certificate in which the manufacturer, importer, or private labeler certifies that its children's product complies with all applicable children's product safety rules.
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Certification of children's products must be based upon the results of third party testing, as described below. The third party testing laboratory provides the testing services and results but does not issue the children's product certificate. The manufacturer, importer, or private labeler is responsible for drafting and issuing the Children's Product Certificate.
Does the CPSC have a sample Children's Product Certificate?
Yes. There is a model of how to draft a Children's Product Certificate. (The model is actually of a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) that is used for non-children's or general use products. However, the same principles apply, and the model includes a location to list the third party testing laboratory.)
You are not required to, but you may, copy the layout and title the document: "Children's Product Certificate" and include the details pertinent to your product; or, if you prefer, you may create your own form, as long as it captures all of the requirements listed in section 14(g) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (pdf). (The model Children's Product Certificate captures all of the 14(g) requirements.)
Can one Children's Product Certificate certify that the product complies with multiple children's product safety rules?
Yes. For example, if - for a product manufactured after December 31, 2011 - you are certifying that your product complies with the ban on phthalates, the toy safety standard, limits on total lead content and lead in paint, the small parts requirements, and other applicable regulations, then Part 2 of your Children's Product Certificate would read as follows:
Sec. 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-314 (August 14, 2008) (CPSIA), Ban on Certain Phthalates in Toys and Children's Products.
ASTM F963-08, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety. (You must list the specific numeric sections of the toy safety standard to which you are certifying.)
Sec. 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-314 (August 14, 2008) (CPSIA), Ban on Total Lead Content in Children's Products in Excess of 100 ppm in Children's Products.
16 CFR part 1303, Ban of Lead-Containing Paint and Certain Consumer Products Bearing Lead-Containing Paint for Toys and Other Articles Intended for Children.
16 CFR part 1501, Small Parts Ban for Toys and Other Articles Intended for Children under 3 Years of Age which Present Choking, Aspiration, or Ingestion Hazards.
If your product is subject to an additional mandatory regulation, rule, ban, or standard for which third party testing and certification currently is required, then you would include the citation to that regulation, rule, ban, or standard as well.
The full title of each requirement is provided above for your information only and does not need to be included in your children's product certificate. Part 2 of the Children's Product Certificate is adequate if you reference the specific section(s) of the children's product safety rule to which you are certifying the product without including the full title of each requirement.
Who must issue the Children's Product Certificate?
Under the Commission's rule (pdf) on certificates of conformity, the Children's Product Certificate must be issued by the importer for products manufactured overseas. The Children's Product Certificate must be issued by the U.S. manufacturer for products manufactured domestically.
To whom must I provide my Children's Product Certificate?
If you are a manufacturer or importer, you must "furnish" the Children's Product Certificate to your distributors and retailers. The requirement to "furnish" the Children's Product Certificate is satisfied if the manufacturer or importer provides its distributors and retailers a reasonable means to access the certificate. You can provide an actual hard copy of the certificate to your distributors and retailers, or you can provide a dedicated website with that specific certificate on your invoice. (See the answer addressing electronic certificates below.)
Additionally, federal law requires you to provide a copy of the Children's Product Certificate to the CPSC and to the Commissioner of Customs, upon request.
Where must I file the Children's Product Certificate?
A Children's Product Certificate does not have to be filed with the government. As noted above, the certificate must "accompany" the product shipment and be "furnished" to distributors and retailers, and, upon request, to the CPSC and to the Commissioner of Customs.
What must I base my Children's Product Certificate on?
The certificate must be based on tests of sufficient samples of each product, conducted by an accredited third party laboratory that the CPSC has accepted to perform the specific tests for each applicable children's product safety rule.
What if I sell directly to consumers and do not use retailers or distributors?
The law requires manufacturers or importers to issue a Children's Product Certificate; that the certificate accompany each product or shipment of products; that the certificate be furnished to retailers and distributors; and that the certificate be provided to the CPSC, upon request. Accordingly, you do not have to provide the certificate to consumers in direct-to-consumer sales.
Is a Children's Product Certificate required for each shipment of my product?
Yes. The law requires each import (and domestic manufacturer) shipment to be "accompanied" by the required certificate. The requirement applies to imports and products manufactured domestically. Under CPSC regulations, an electronic certificate is "accompanying" a shipment if the certificate is identified by a unique identifier and can be accessed via a World Wide Web URL or other electronic means, provided the URL or other electronic means and the unique identifier are created in advance and are available with the shipment.
If I import children's products and the foreign manufacturer has already tested and certified the product, do I need to retest or recertify the product? Can I just pass along the foreign manufacturer's children's product certificate?
CPSC requires that certificates of conformity be issued by the domestic manufacturer or the importer of products made outside the United States. This means that an importer cannot simply pass along a foreign manufacturer's certificate of conformity. However, the component part testing regulation, at 16 CFR part 1109, allows importers to use a foreign manufacturer's test results or their component part or finished product certifications of a children's product to issue their own Children's Product Certificate, as long as the importer exercises due care to ensure the validity of the test results or the certificate and receives the documentation required by the rule.
Can electronic certificates, instead of paper certificates, be used to meet the requirements of section 102 of the CPSIA?
The Commission has issued a rule specifically allowing the use of an electronic certificate, as long as: the Commission has reasonable access to it; it contains all of the information required by section 14 of the CPSA; and it complies with the other requirements of the rule.
If I post the certificate of conformity - either a Children’s Product Certificate or a General Certificate of Conformity - on the Internet, do I need to change it for each shipment, batch, or lot of the product?
If each shipment is materially unchanged from the prior shipment, a single certificate of conformity may be acceptable, but the certificate would need to describe the date range of products covered, using either batch/lot information or other identifying information.
One Children's Product Certificate may apply to (or "cover") multiple batches or lots of productions if you have exercised an appropriate level of due care to ensure the continued compliance of each additional batch or lot of production with all applicable children's product safety rules.
Remember that although a single Children's Product Certificate may "cover" more than one shipment or unit of production if a manufacturer chooses to do so, the certificate would need to describe the date range of products covered, using either batch/lot information or other identifying information. For each new shipment or unit of production entered into the stream of commerce, the Children's Product Certificate would need to be updated to reflect the new group of products. The manufacturer of the finished children's product will need this information to ensure the accuracy of the tracking label affixed to each children's product and its packaging.
Do I have to sign the Children's Product Certificate?
No. You do not have to sign the certificate. The act of issuing the certificate satisfies the new law. Any statement that you issue must be accurate whether it is signed or not.
Are there penalties for failing to comply with the certificate requirement?
Yes. It is a violation of the CPSA to fail to furnish a Children's Product Certificate, to issue a false certificate of conformity under certain conditions, and to otherwise fail to comply with section 14 of the CPSA. A violation of the CPSA could lead to a civil penalty and possibly criminal penalties and asset forfeiture.
How will I know when third party testing will be implemented for the remaining requirements?
You may view the complete list of children's product safety rules for which testing and certification currently are required here.
On January 1, 2012, certification and third party testing will be required for nearly all of the children's product safety rules.
Every six months, approximately, new requirements will be put in place for certain durable infant or toddler products. So far, the Commission has issued requirements for the following durable infant or toddler products:
- Cribs
- Infant Walkers
- Toddler Beds and
- Bath Seats
Once the Commission issues a "Notice of Requirements" to the testing laboratories for a requirement, third party testing is generally required 90 days thereafter.
The best way to stay current on the durable infant or toddler product rulemaking schedule is to sign up for the following CPSC e-mail services:
CPSIA Mailing List: Distributes official Commission documents published in the Federal Register and other documents, as needed.
Small Business Ombudsman Mailing List: Distributes plain language explanations of certain Commission actions and provides occasional updates on Commission rulemaking and other activities.
Third Party Testing
What is third party testing?
Third party testing means testing performed by a third party accredited laboratory that the CPSC has accepted to perform the specific tests for each children's product safety rule. The law requires a third party test in order to have an objective, unbiased laboratory ensure that the product is properly tested and compliant with the law.
Nearly all children's products are required to undergo third party testing.
Third party testing serves as the basis for a company to certify in a Children's Product Certificate that its children's products are compliant with each applicable children's product safety rule.
A single children's product may be required to undergo multiple third party tests to ensure compliance with many different regulatory requirements. Accordingly, to save costs, you should try to identify a single laboratory that the CPSC recognizes as qualified to perform all of the tests that you need to certify that your children's product is compliant. Depending upon the specific requirements of your children's product, however, you may need to use more than one laboratory to perform all of the tests required for your children's product.
What are the different types of third party testing required for my children's product?
There are three types of third party testing:
- initial third party testing (also called certification testing);
- material change testing; and
- periodic testing.
Initially, every children's product that is required to be third party tested must be third party tested by a CPSC-accepted laboratory for compliance with all applicable children's product safety rules. Based on the results of the third party testing, the manufacturer must then issue a Children's Product Certificate. If a material change is made later to that children's product or to a component part of that children's product, then either the component part or the entire product needs to be retested by a third party, CPSC-accepted laboratory and a new Children's Product Certificate needs to be issued.
Periodic testing applies to continuing production of a children's product. If a children's product initially is certified, and then additional production continues, effective February 8, 2013, periodic testing is required for all the applicable children's product safety rules, even if there are no material changes. Periodic testing is in addition to material change testing. Periodic testing must be conducted often enough to assure ongoing compliance with the applicable safety rules and no less than 1-, 2-, or 3-year intervals, depending on whether the manufacturer has a periodic testing plan, a production testing plan, or conducts continued testing using an accredited ISO/IEC 17025:2005 laboratory, as discussed further below.
The manufacturer that issues the Children's Product Certificate for the finished product is responsible for knowing whether periodic testing is required and for ensuring that periodic testing is conducted at least at the minimum required frequency
How can I determine which children's product safety rules are applicable to my children's product?
You may view the list of requirements for which third party testing and certification are required here. Effective January 1, 2012, nearly every children's product safety rule will require third party testing.
Where can I find accredited laboratories that are accepted by the CPSC?
The CPSC has accepted hundreds of laboratories worldwide. The CPSC accepts a laboratory as qualified to test a particular children's product safety rule. (Each laboratory that the CPSC has accepted will likely be qualified to test for different children's product safety rules based on the type of equipment and expertise that particular laboratory possesses.) That means that you will need to ensure that your chosen laboratory is accepted by the CPSC to perform each and every test for your product in the scenario where your product(s) is subject to more than one children's product safety rule.
The list of accredited laboratories accepted by the CPSC can be found here.The easiest way to use this page is to scroll to the part of the page titled "Narrow the Laboratory List," choose your region by highlighting your geographic area, select your scope by highlighting the children's product safety rule for which you need to third party test and certify, and click the "Narrow List" button. You also may search by keyword.
The page will reload and all of the CPSC-accepted laboratories in your designated geographic area will appear in the middle box. You will need to scroll down again to view the updated list of CPSC-accepted labs.
You will likely need to run the laboratory search multiple times until you have located an accepted laboratory that can complete the testing for all children's product safety rules that are applicable to your product.
Specific information on third party testing requirements for small batch manufacturers is available
Once I have tested and certified that my children's products are in compliance with the applicable requirements, how often must I retest and certify my children's products?
Generally, you must retest children's products when there is a material change to the product and periodically after the initial certification of the product. This "periodic testing" requirement is explained in more detail below. Any material changes, such as changing the paint used on a children's toy or changing the product's design or manufacturing process, for example, could render the children's product noncompliant. In that situation, you only need to retest for compliance to those rules affected by the material change. You may also need to update your Children's Product Certificate.
The requirement to test your children's product when there is a material change and the requirement for periodic testing become effective on February 8, 2013. However, you must still ensure that your children's product complies with the regulatory requirements at all times.
This summary does not provide all of the details included in the Commission's final rule on testing and certification. Please refer to the regulation published in 16 CFR part 1107 for those details. This summary of the continuing testing requirements does not replace or supersede the requirements in the regulation.
Am I required to test every batch or every product that I produce?
No. At a minimum, you must third party test your first production batch or lot using a CPSC-accepted laboratory to certify your product. After initial certification, you will need to periodically retest your ongoing production, at least once per year for most manufacturers. You need to retest your production batch any time a material change has been made that could impact compliance of the product with any applicable children's product safety rule.
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For example, a manufacturer of ink or paint likely does not need to retest each new vat of ink or paint if the manufacturer has taken the steps to ensure that no material changes have occurred in the production process. Periodic testing of the inks or paints is required, and the manufacturer is best positioned to determine the appropriate frequency. In creating a periodic testing plan or a production testing plan, a company may institute controls over incoming materials into its factory, process controls on the manufacturing floor, additional management controls to minimize variance and risk, and other techniques to have a high degree of assurance about the continued compliance of its goods. Each company will need to analyze its own procedures to determine the appropriate frequency of periodic testing.
Do I need to have each shipment of product tested by a CPSC
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