The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a new draft Statement of Policy concerning testing for phthalates compliance under Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).

Under section 108 of the CPSIA, the sale of children's toys and child care articles containing more than 0.1% of certain phthalates is prohibited. In previous guidance issued by the CPSC, the agency has taken the position that this prohibition applies to the entire toy or child care article, and not to its individual components, and that the article be tested accordingly, as a whole. Through this new draft policy statement, dated July 30, 2009, the staff is now recommending that the phthalates prohibition be interpreted to mean that the sale of children's toys and child care articles containing more than 0.1 % of the specified phthalates in each individual plasticized component part is prohibited.

The impact of this new interpretation is two-fold: First, the concentration of phthalates would be calculated solely on the basis of the weight (mass) of the plasticized component part, rather than the entire article. Second, materials that are not plasticized would not require testing, although they still would be required to meet the 0.1 % limit on the specified phthalates. Detailed guidance about which materials would require testing and which materials would not require testing are outlined below. Read more.

025-08-09