CPSC & CPSIA new laws bad fo all handmade children's items

[#1]

I posted this originally at ETSY NJ & plan on posting it everywhere I can.
The CPSC & CPSIA new law guidelines effect most of us - sign or start a PETITION NOW.
All of us should support each other and stand united to get exclusions or amendments or extensions for compliance referencing USA handmade products and small batch items to this new law by writing to our public officials. Even if none of your items are made directly for children ... Can you imagine an ETSY, FireArt, 1000 Markets, a local craft show or eBay without any children's items in it?

This is effectively THE WORLD'S LARGEST CHILDREN'S PRODUCT RECALL ever imagined. But without the option of returning the items for refund or replacement.

THIS NEW CPSIA WILL EFFECT ALL OF US that sell ANY products that can be consider for children. Not just toys and jewelry, but CLOTHING, ROOM DECOR, SCHOOL SUPPLIES, EDUCATIONAL AIDS, ART WORK, ART SUPPLIES, PILLOWS, HAIR BOWS so on & etc. if it is made for someone 12 & under to use it will be subject to the certified testing. Even HAND-ME-DOWNS as resales or vintage items will be subject to the testing. To read the whole "brief", 67 pages long, requires some basic law education but you can get the gist of it in the CPSIA's FAQ section http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/faq/faq.html#educational

This new law is blindsiding us by giving very little notice to comply to it, if we're even able to provide the proofs the the CPSC wants. It's been so under the radar the ETSY doesn't have a STORQUE article on it yet. Niether has eBay or most of the other online seller's outlets even mention the new law. I think there waiting for after the holidays to tells us that lots of the items we bought are now effectively illegal and that we should of never given them to our children in the first place. There should be some type of grandfathering clause included that parents shouldn't have to shell out more good money if they feel their child is in danger just because the government said the product is not longer safe.

This will put quite a few of us out of business. Even larger companies are having problems complying with the deadline or the batch material testing requirements. Here a set of excerpts from a recent CPSIA hearing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlY6zOMPqQ, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlMh7MJiodY&feature=related, & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk0Vr0yDrXc&feature=related.

Don't just believe that the legislation will change on it's own, do something to let your voice be heard. Write a congressperson, tell ETSY what you feel about this law, blog about it, just get your voice heard by CPSIA that the law is impractical and bias towards small & cottage industries. People for a Greener Earth should also take up this issue since it will put an end to reusing durable children's products outside of the immediate hand me down process, sending tons of good resalable items to landfills.

Many items that were legal this holiday season will be banned come Feb. 10, 2009 regardless of if the child's product was a handheld video game by a super multinational corporation, a made in the USA pair of jeans from a local mom & pop retailer, or one of the fantastic wooden toys available at ETSY shops because it failed testing & needs to be reworked or wasn't tested yet. This means it would even be illegal and punishable by fines and jail time to resell or reuse, outside your own home, those items in anything that that would be for a child unless they were previously tested. So no one, even a consumer looking to green up the Earth a little, could list a child's items as vintage piece at ETSY or a sell it as used on eBay or at a garage sale without it having the the testing done.

Generals threads for any one :
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5938698
http://www.ipetitions.com/
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=511163411&forumID=124&x#511163411

for toy makers :
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/
http://grecowoodcrafting.wordpress.com/

for children's clothing, doll clothes, hair bows, and accessory makers :
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5935443
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/

If you know of any more threads and sites that address the issue PLEASE post them here. To be informed is to be forewarned. Especially if this means you will have to close shop and retool your business towards something that doesn't deal with any children's products.

[Former_Member]

marking, thank you!

[Former_Member]

savvycottage says:
cuckoboo:

go to http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia


Just signed this one too and sent to everyone I know!

[Former_Member]

Just found a site whose main business it is to "translate" densely worded laws into plain, readable English.

http://readablelaws.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

It could be of use to us, I'm going to look into it more tomorrow.

Or does anyone else know of any other organization/non-profit who does the legalese --> English conversion?

[Former_Member]

marking for later

[Former_Member]

marking

[CuckooBoo]

fabric does not have surface paint, so why does it have to be tested?

http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/sec102FAQs3.pdf

question at the bottom of page 3

[Assemblages]

If Congress would just pass a law that importers from China have their goods certified, we all would not need to worry of this.

[CuckooBoo]

I was interviewed by a local journalist for the newspaper, he said he spoke with the CPSC, and was told that if your item is one of a kind, it does not need to be tested, because since it is the only one a test will destroy it. well that makes sense. For many of you this may be your case for custom made items.

If anyone has a NC based business and you want to be interviewed let me know and I will pass your info to this journalist

[Former_Member]

interesting, cuckooboo.

I have to kind of doubt the journalist's information, however. Why would the CPSC make an exception for OOAK items when the law itself is so comprehensive and over-arching?

[happywhosits]

CuckooBoo, was this for the Raleigh paper? Is this journalist writing an article?

We're in Charlotte.

Eileen...

[Former_Member]

CuckooBoo,
Please post the artcle link here or at http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5951140 . That way we can see the CPSC /CPSIA response to the OOAK qeustion. Having a statement like that in writing from a person of government authority will help alleviate a lot of concerns here.

[TheFurkidStudio]

Hey gang,

I just put a call into Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a group of lawyers in New York who deal with things like this.

Their web site is:
http://www.vlany.org

I'll let you know what I find out from them! I've also called my congressman and demanded some answers on this law.

The more I read about it, the more I believe that our rights as artists are being violated here. It will be impossible to comply with this law for artists making one of a kind items, and that is definitely a rights issue.

[TheFurkidStudio]

Oops...did I kill the thread?

[Former_Member]

vote here http://www.change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

[handsewn]

threeredtrees- thank-you!

[Former_Member]

NOT a conspiracy against small producers and sellers, this is going to bankrupt big toy stores, big box chains that rely on toy & kid products, as well as BIG toy producers.

[Former_Member]

i just read this article ... not sure if it was already posted. if it was forgive the double post.
to view the article click here
http://www.independentmail.com/blogs/mothering-without-manual/2008/dec/16/toys_crime/

[Former_Member]

CraftyChefGraphics says:
This sounds unbelievable - apparently everyone has to comply with these new laws except...China! All they have to do is forge a document or send an email and they're A-OK! That's what it sounds like to me. Read it and weep:

http://www.strtrade.com/sttas/

"The CPSC’s final rule eliminates the requirement for foreign manufacturers and private labelers of imported consumer goods to certify that they conform with applicable CPSC product safety standards. Only importers will be required to issue conformity certificates for imported goods."

HOKAY, so 90% of the problem items have come from China, the remaining 10% has come from India and the 3rd world.

How does this legislation fix the problem?

[Former_Member]

threeredtrees,

you are a star! thanks for ferreting out a legal organization that might be able to stick up for us.

keep us posted!

[Former_Member]

threeredtrees! Please post again as soon as you hear something from the lawyers. What a great idea to contact them. My husband keeps insisting that's our major loophole, that we're artists and not manufacturers. I wish. It is absurd to think I can't sell a painting for a child's room (since it would be destroyed in testing).

Something's gotta give, man!

[handsewn]

absolutely- something has to give because this is as- Un-American as it gets


Grandma goes to jail for making teddy bears -News At 11:00.

[handsewn]

trinlayk- I just read that and I'm steaming mad.

[Former_Member]

I'm furious, because the actual problem (Chinese Quality Control, and the labs in China having the Chinese Government breathing down their necks to certify Chinese products as OK.)
is going to remain the same, and American producers/sellers are being forced out of business.

Secondarily, I'm concerned about the kids who rely on specialty products because of their disabilities.... they aren't a big enough market to have ANY power.

[Former_Member]

American, EU, and Complaint Asian companies.... are being forced out of or stressed while trying to find ways to stay in business.

(Does China officially OWN our asses now?)

[Former_Member]

I just spoke with the store manager at the local JoAnn Fabrics. She had NO IDEA about this law or what her store was going to do to become compliant.

She transferred me to the corporate Customer Service Line. The woman there had ALSO not heard anything about it, and promised to get me into contact with the District Team Leader.

I'll be really curious as to what they have to say.

Huh.