Child resistance

The spray-device exemption

Updated October 2026

On this page8

What it says Permanently attached is the operative phrase It changes what a room spray is Two other exemptions sit alongside it A refill bottle is the hard case Decide this before you design the range It is an exemption, not an approval References

This is the sentence that makes the closure a compliance decision: the exemption is written in terms of the package, not the product.

What it says

Paragraphs (a)(31) and (a)(32) each exempt products in packages where the only non-child-resistant access to the contents is by a spray device, giving aerosols and pump or trigger sprays as examples, provided the pump or trigger mechanism is either child-resistant or permanently attached to the package.

Permanently attached is the operative phrase

A pump that unscrews is not the only access to the contents, because the neck underneath it is. The exemption contemplates a package a child cannot simply open, which is a mechanical property of the fitting rather than a claim you make about it.

It changes what a room spray is

The same blend in a spray bottle with a permanently attached pump and in a screw-cap refill bottle sit on different sides of this rule. That is not a loophole, it is the regulation describing a real difference in how accessible the liquid is.

Two other exemptions sit alongside it

Writing markers and ballpoint pens already exempted from FHSA labeling, and products from which the liquid cannot flow freely. Neither covers a bottle of diffuser oil, and the second is worth knowing only so you do not mistake a thick oil for it.

A refill bottle is the hard case

Refills exist so the customer can pour, which means free-flowing liquid and no spray device. If a blend crosses a threshold, the refill is the format that has to carry the child-resistant closure even when the original package did not.

Decide this before you design the range

A spray, a reed set and a refill of one blend can land in three different places under this rule. Working that out once at the start is cheaper than three separate discoveries.

It is an exemption, not an approval

Qualifying means the special-packaging requirement does not apply to that package. It says nothing about hazard labeling, about safety data sheets, or about whether the closure survives the blend, all of which are separate obligations that arrive on their own schedule.

References

16 CFR 1700.14, Substances requiring special packaging, under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act regulations. Paragraph (a)(3) covers liquid preparations over 5 percent methyl salicylate; (a)(7) illuminating preparations at 10 percent petroleum distillates; (a)(31) and (a)(32) hazardous substances, and drugs and cosmetics, at 10 percent or more hydrocarbons by weight and under 100 SUS at 100 F, each with an exemption for packages whose only non-child-resistant access is a spray device. law.cornell.edu

16 CFR 1700.15, Poison prevention packaging standards. Paragraph (a) requires the packaging to keep working in actual contact with the substance and across the openings and closings customary for its size and contents; (b) sets child-resistant effectiveness at not less than 85 percent without a demonstration and 80 percent after one; (c) forbids reuse; (d) restricts flow to 2 milliliters per activation. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation, not from a formulation bench. Whether a given formula crosses a threshold in 16 CFR 1700.14 is a question about your formula, and the percentages here are the test rather than the answer. Anything on these pages is a starting point and not clearance for a specific product.