As part of its mandate to reduce third-party testing costs for toy and children’s products manufacturers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is set to vote this week on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking exempting four plastics from phthalates testing, according to the Toy Industry Association (TIA). TIA has led advocacy on this issue, and says that this rulemaking will likely reduce test costs.
The proposed rule determines that polypropylene, polyethylene, high impact polystyrene, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) do not contain specified phthalates prohibited in children’s toys and child care articles. Based on this determination, companies would not be required to have these specific plastics tested for the banned phthalates at third-party laboratories, although they must continue to comply with the 0.1% limit for each of the six currently-restricted phthalates.
Over the past few years, TIA and its members have provided agency staff and lawmakers with comments, data, testimony and more to encourage the reduction or elimination of unnecessary testing and testing costs.
Once CPSC votes on the rulemaking, a draft rule will be published in the Federal Register with a 75-day public comment period. TIA staff will review and comment on the draft rule to ensure that it provides relief to toy companies.
