CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for December 4

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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for December 4

CPSIA – Interesting Admissions by Mattel

In a November 9 Product Safety Letter article, Mattel spokesmen were quoted bemoaning the burdens and confusion of the CPSIA.

In Mattel’s public meeting with Commissioner Bob Adler, Mattel sounded bedraggled and overwhelmed by the new law:

“Peter Biersteker, a lawyer for Mattel with the law firm Jones Day in Washington D.C., said his client is finding the CPSIA difficult to decipher. The law, he said, is unclear on what products the company needs to test, how often it needs to test them, and how many samples need to be tested. ‘It’s a lot of work. I don’t know how smaller companies do it,’ Biersteker told Commissioner Robert Adler. Despite Mattel’s large team of in-house lawyers, he said, the company needed to hire outside lawyers to help understand the CPSIA. He said Mattel holds weekly conference calls on the issue, discussing how to comply with the act while remaining ‘cost competitive.’”

Ed. Note: Hmmm, where have I heard this before??? Oh yeah, in this space, about 100 times since the blog went live in January. Key points:

• The new law is unclear
• The implementing rules are unclear
• CPSC guidance has not resolved these mysteries (and IMHO made them worse)
• A team of lawyers is needed to interpret the mess – a team of business people is insufficient
• Small businesses have no chance under the CPSIA
• Internal resources are overwhelmed by the CPSIA’s legal demands – even for companies with a large internal law department
• The seriousness of the legal risks under the CPSIA means that any prudent company MUST hire expensive outside experts to provide compliance advice (and for many small businesses, this is just not a realistic option economically)
• Remaining “cost competitive” is a seemingly unsolvable puzzle under this law.

And if Mattel says so, it MUST be true.

Adler was sympathetic (I can see the tears welling up . . . ):

“Adler responded with, ‘Believe me. I’ve been struggling to learn it myself.’ He said it’s hard for CPSC to issue guidelines that are applicable to both large and small firms.”

So the Commissioners themselves don’t understand the law and the agency’s rules. Join the club. And Adler admits that the law doesn’t permit the agency to address small business concerns adequately.

Perhaps the CPSC leadership should talk to Congress??? Hey, that’s an interesting thought . . . .

More good news – Mother Mattel is trying get the rest of the world to adopt the U.S. insanity:

“[Jim Walter, Mattel's senior vice president of product integrity & chief regulatory officer] said Mattel is working to internationally harmonize future product safety standards, finding that harmonizing standards after they have been issued is too difficult.”

I have also heard directly from the TIA and others that lobbying efforts are underway to make the CPSIA a world standard. In other words, by drumming up support for this craziness, the big toy companies can ensure that no one will escape the costs that they must incur to remain active in the world’s largest toy market, the U.S. To heck with small business interests! How generous of Mattel to get behind the law developed in response to its own bad behavior. I am so grateful for their guidance and oversight – they did such a great job in 2007/8, no doubt they will do even better now!

About the only consolation I can offer is that I don’t think the failings of the CPSIA are lost on the outside world. The recent ICPHSO conference in Toronto made clear that no one in Canada is clamoring to use the CPSIA as a model for their new safety law. Contentions to the contrary by officials in this country must be taken with a grain of salt. It is abundantly clear that the CPSIA is yet another self-destructive U.S. initiative by the worst Congress in U.S. history – and no foreign government is any hurry to work that magic on their own economy just because Henry Waxman and his merry band has Hari-Kari in mind for us. Interestingly, other countries seem to know that jobs matter.

Mattel’s admissions frame the challenge for the rest of us. We need to make sure that the CPSC is well-aware of the completely unrealistic scenarios they are forcing on businesses (large and small) and to hold them accountable to push Congress to address these issues SOON. 2010 is an election year and it will be increasingly obvious to one and all that we will have our chance to replace those members of Congress who will not cooperate with our reasonable requests. Let’s hope that they can see the future . . . and choose to act before it’s too late.

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CPSIA – Interesting Admissions by Mattel

CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 16

The Alliance for Children’s Product Safety’s “CPSIA Casualty of the Week” highlights how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is disrupting the U.S. marketplace in order to draw attention to the problems faced by small businesses, public institutions, consumers and others trying to comply with senseless and often contradictory provisions of the law. These provisions do nothing to improve product safety, but are driving small businesses out of the market.

CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 16:

“Pockets of Learning” Emptied by CPSIA
Special Needs Products Being Driven from Market By Testing Costs

Pockets of Learning is a Rhode Island-based company that for 20 years has designed, manufactured and sold unique heirloom-quality cloth toys and gifts, many of which offer skill-building experiences to children such as tying, matching, buttoning and counting. The company helps fill niche markets, including special needs, religious and independent retailers. Pockets of Learning has an impeccable safety record, and has never offered a product to the marketplace that had not been tested according to CPSC requirements.

On November 10, 2009, Pockets of Learning informed its customers that thanks to CPSIA, it will no longer sell its “How Do I Feel Today?” wall hanging, a bear-themed product sold for young children with special and emotional needs. The company told its customers that it “can no longer afford to manufacture and offer these products, due to the over 500% increase in safety testing cost…The annual volume of the product does not allow for the investment required to properly safety test under the new CPSIA guidelines.”

The loss of this item was made known to us by a leading distributor of therapy tools and other products for educational professionals and psychologists who had his order cancelled.

Pockets of Learning President Jack Grant told us in an e-mail that this product loss is only the “tip of the iceberg.” Due to the financial impact of CPSIA testing, Pockets of Learning is planning to reduce its product line from about 65 products to approximately 22 because of “the reality that CPSIA testing would typically add 30% or more to the cost of each item” made in small production runs.

Large multinational manufacturers who make high volume items can absorb higher testing costs imposed by CPSIA. But the thousands of small businesses across the country that fulfill specific, niche markets are the untold casualties of this law. Worse yet, kids in need are losing access to essential teaching materials. “How Do I Feel Today?”, indeed!

For more information, please contact Caitlin Andrews at (202) 828-7637 or e-mail caitlin.andrews@bgllp.com

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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for November 16

CPSIA – RILA Requests Comments on its Global Standards

We received the following request from RILA about its new Global Standards. Here are some FAQs they supplied. RILA is asking for comments by December 1 which I think is too tight. We have asked them to extend the date into mid-January . . . it is the Xmas season.

These standards are yet another massive threat to the manufacturing community. It is essential that MANY companies contribute their ideas and comments to protect our ability to do business with the mass market merchants. Frankly, you ignore this standard at your peril. Please send RILA your comments.

Dear Supplier,

Earlier this year, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) joined with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to develop a retail-led, Global Standard for Consumer Product Manufacturing (GSCPM). RILA has been distributing drafts of the Standard through fellow trade associations, including possibly your own, since July 2009.

You have been identified by a RILA member as a key stakeholder in the development of this Standard and attached you’ll find the latest draft of the BRC/RILA Global Standard for Consumer Product Manufacturing.

As the BRC/RILA Standard drafting process comes to an end, we welcome your comments and value your feedback on the content. Please email all comments directly to Jim.Neill@rila.org by December 1, 2009.

Key components of the BRC/RILA Standard includes development of Sector Specific Guidelines, as well as a phased, orderly implementation. Please consider working with us in the development of these in the near future and let me know if you’re interested.

In addition to the BRC/RILA Standard, you will also find attached a Frequently Asked Questions document about the Standard and the program. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to working with you in the upcoming months.

Best Regards,

Jim Neill
Vice President, Product Safety
Retail Industry Leaders Association
1700 N. Moore Street, Suite 2250
Arlington, VA 22209
Direct: 703∙600∙2022
Mobile: 202∙412∙8960
Fax: 703∙841∙1184
mailto:Jim.Neill@retail-leaders.org

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CPSIA – RILA Requests Comments on its Global Standards

CPSIA – My Testimony at Public Consumer Product Safety Incident Database Hearing 11-10-09

I testified at the hearing about the new public product safety incident database at the CPSC yesterday (Nov. 10, 2009). The videos of my presentation are below for your convenience, in two parts.

Please note that this is the third time I have testified in front of the CPSC about the CPSIA (lead panel, tracking labels panel, database panel). I believe that out of the 30 presenters at these hearings, I was the only operating company that stood up and gave comments, besides a ladder company at this week’s hearing and a software company shamelessly trying to sell tracking label software. I cannot do this alone. You will get out of this what you put into it.

There is a great chance to make a contribution at the upcoming IMPORTANT two-day workshop on the so-called 15 Month Rule at the CPSC on December 11/12. See the CPSC notice here. We need to have some bodies at this meeting. The CPSC wants feedback from the regulated community, from real people with pain points. If we want the CPSC to work with Congress to fix the law and to implement it in as sensible a way as possible, we need to provide direct feedback. Ask yourself whether it matters that no children’s product company testified about the database besides Learning Resources after you watch my presentation. It’s a pretty important subject, others should have been there to defend their interests. Get involved – we need your help.

Part I (5:19)

Part II (6:20)

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CPSIA – My Testimony at Public Consumer Product Safety Incident Database Hearing 11-10-09

CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for October 27

The Alliance for Children’s Product Safety is distributing the “CPSIA Casualty of the Week,” to highlight how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is disrupting the U.S. marketplace. These updates are meant to draw attention to the problems faced by small businesses, public institutions, consumers and others trying to comply with senseless and often contradictory provisions that are doing little or nothing to improve product safety.

CPSIA Casualty of the Week for October 27:

As this CPSIA Casualty of the Week illustrates, the CPSIA continues to wreak havoc in our marketplace. Congress and the CPSC need to address the problems with CPSIA implementation to help small businesses by restoring “common sense” to our nation’s product safety laws.

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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week for October 27

CPSIA – Tenenbaum Has the Wrong Focus

Chairman Inez Tenenbaum is quoted in the September 21 issue of the Product Safety Letter responding to requests from manufacturers for “speed and clarity” (NAM meeting): “Clarity is what we want too. We want everyone to get it straight, to get the information out to suppliers, and make sure everyone gets it right.” Unfortunately, that’s not quite right. Yes, everyone wants the water torture to end. Yes, stop talking about component testing rules and ISSUE THEM. To that extent, she’s right. That would help. On the other hand . . . hurrying to issue guidance or rules that are shortsighted, worded in double-speak or obviously defective won’t help anyone. Getting the word out about destructive or unworkable rules will only WORSEN the chaos and confusion. Nancy Nord issued a warning along these lines in her January 30 letter to Reps. Waxman and Rush and Senators Rockefeller and Pryor ( attached to her statement explaining her vote to stay implementation of the CPSIA testing and certification requirements): “Although the staff has been directed to move as quickly as possible to complete its work, short-circuiting the rulemaking process gives short shrift to the analytical discipline contemplated by the statute.” This remark was noted in the recent letter by Rep. Michael Burgess . Interestingly, Ms. Nord also noted in her January 30 statement: “The stay will give the CPSC time to develop and issue rules defining responsibilities of manufacturers, importers, retailers, and testing labs. It will give the Commission time to rule on exemptions and exclusions from the lead provisions and develop and put in place appropriate testing protocols. It will give staff time to develop an approach to component parts testing, given the ambiguity of the statute on this point.” If I still had a sense of humor, I might find this 236-day-old statement amusing. Nice to know that the staff could use this extra time so productively to crank out the component testing standard. . . what? It’s not out yet? That CAN’T be right! Wow . . . . Ms. Tenenbaum needs to understand that her challenge is not all about speed. She needs to get it RIGHT on the first try. Sending manufacturers down the river to meet a deadline is rather . . . shortsighted, and that’s putting it nicely. Of course, to get it right may involve taking some political risk and publicly disagreeing with the Democratic demagogues. If she won’t do that, we are all doomed, but then again, according to Ms. Tenenbaum, at least the end will come quickly. I just can’t guarantee that it will painless.

Continued here:
CPSIA – Tenenbaum Has the Wrong Focus

CPSIA – AAFA Op-Ed in Roll Call on Anniversary of CPSIA

Paper Is the Right Choice for Clothes and Shoes: Marking One Year of the CPSIA Aug.

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CPSIA – AAFA Op-Ed in Roll Call on Anniversary of CPSIA

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