Six documents carry everything on this property.
For whether you are in scope
15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(2). It is short, it is the definition of children’s product, and it lists the four factors. If you read one thing in this category, read this paragraph, because it decides whether the rest applies to you.
For lead in the part
15 U.S.C. 1278a. The step down from 600 to 300 to 100 ppm, the technological feasibility escape, and the direction of travel. Note that the limit is total lead content by weight for any part of the product.
For lead in a coating
16 CFR 1303.1. One short section, with the 0.009 percent figure and the statement that articles bearing such paint are themselves banned. It also records the reduction from 0.06 percent in 2009, which is useful when you find an older source.
For small parts
16 CFR 1500.18(a)(9) for the ban and 16 CFR 1501.4 for the test. Read them together; the ban tells you who it applies to and the test tells you what fails. 1501.4 also sends you to 1500.51 and 1500.52 for use and abuse.
For certificates and marks
15 U.S.C. 2063. Subsection (a)(2) is third party testing, (a)(5) is the permanent distinguishing marks on the product and its packaging. The second one is the part most often discovered late.
For the age judgment
The Commission staff’s Age Determination Guidelines, named in the statute itself as the fourth factor. Written for toys, applied far more broadly, and the document a reviewer will reach for.
What is not in this list
State metals statutes and ASTM F2923. Both can bind you, neither is federal law, and we have not summarized either because a partial survey of fifty states is worse than none.
References
15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(2), the Consumer Product Safety Act definitions as amended by the CPSIA. A children’s product is a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger, determined by four factors: a manufacturer statement including a label if reasonable; representation in packaging, display, promotion or advertising; common recognition by consumers; and the Commission staff’s September 2002 Age Determination Guidelines.
law.cornell.edu15 U.S.C. 1278a,
Children’s products containing lead; lead paint rule. Total lead content by weight for any part of the product: 600 ppm, then 300 ppm one year after 14 August 2008, then 100 ppm three years after, unless the Commission determines 100 ppm is not technologically feasible for a product or category. The Commission is to review and revise the limit downward periodically.
law.cornell.edu16 CFR 1303.1,
Scope and application. Paint and similar surface coatings containing lead above 0.009 percent of the weight of the total nonvolatile content or the dried paint film are banned hazardous products, the limit having been reduced from 0.06 percent effective 14 August 2009 as mandated by section 101(f) of the CPSIA. Toys and other articles intended for use by children bearing such coatings are banned hazardous products.
ecfr.gov16 CFR 1500.18(a)(9), banned toys and other banned articles. Any toy or other article intended for use by children under 3 years of age which presents a choking, aspiration or ingestion hazard because of small parts as determined by part 1501, introduced into interstate commerce after 1 January 1980. The same section defines when introduction into interstate commerce occurs, including at a US port of entry for an imported article.
ecfr.gov16 CFR 1501.4,
Size requirements and test procedure. The article is placed into the test cylinder without being compressed, and fails if it fits entirely within the cylinder in any orientation; detached components are tested the same way. An article that does not fit is then subjected to the use and abuse tests of 16 CFR 1500.51 and 1500.52, excluding the bite tests, and any component that comes off is tested in the cylinder.
ecfr.gov15 U.S.C. 2063,
Product certification and labeling. Subsection (a)(2) requires a manufacturer or private labeler of a children’s product subject to a children’s product safety rule to submit sufficient samples to an accredited third party conformity assessment body and to issue a certificate based on that testing. Subsection (a)(5)(A) requires permanent distinguishing marks on the product and its packaging, to the extent practicable, identifying location and date of production and cohort information.
law.cornell.edu 