CPSIA and items from Canada - clarification please

[Former_Member]

So if I am making dolls to ship to the United States - what do I need to do to be able to legaly sell them to people in the states?

I plan to be making waldorf style dolls made with organic cotton, quilting cotton and raw wool stuffing...what do I need to do?

I am really completly in the dark about this whole issue, I have read threads but they kindof confuse me, can some one please tell me what I need to do, or can I list them in a certain way or???

Help me :) Thank you!

[TheWoodGarden]

I don't think you *need* to do anything.

Crafters outside of the US don't have to follow US laws. If a store owner wants to sell your dolls to the public, it's up to them to determine if they meet the new safety standards.

If you are clear to your customers about which materials you use, I'm sure you won't have any problems.

[TheWoodGarden]

What I meant there was, if a store owner in the US wants to import your dolls for sale, it's their responsibility to make sure they meet the standards.

[Former_Member]

OK great! Thank you, so it won't get taken at customs or anything like that?

[herflyinghorses]

The importer (buyer) is responsible. The CPSIA is a U.S law and we have our own regulations that we have to follow. If you are following Canadian regulations, they will pass CPSIA anyway because our laws are just as strict. There is always a chance that items can get stopped at customs but that's a risk that everyone takes when selling on line no matter what country you are buying or selling from.

[Former_Member]

Oh I just looked at both your shops and WOW!! You both have great stuff!!

Thanks, I'm a freak about chemicals so I'm sure it's up to par :) Good to know though I was a bit worried about it because I didn't know if it pertained to us or how it affected us to ship there, so good - now on with the actual making of them :)

Thanks again!

[Former_Member]

My understanding is we don't need to do anything. If I sold my items to someone in the States and gave them permission to re-sell them, then they would be responsible for any testing or labelling that would need to be done to meet the CPSIA requirements before they could sell them within the U.S.

Pam

[Former_Member]

I've been selling my finger puppets everywhere, and haven't had anything taken at customs. :) My items are made from wool felt and cotton floss, so the materials are exempt from 'testing'. My items are really too small to label, so the label, as such, goes on the outter packaging

[Former_Member]

You may want to read this first before offering your products to USA based customers http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/newsroom/publications/trade/iius.ctt/iius.pdf . It a 211 page OVERVIEW of what must be done by an international seller prior to the item arriving at the US customs clearinghouse, rather than what the stateside customer is responsible for. Any seller that is willing to sell internationally should look up sites like this one from the countries they wish to sell to because there are many odd-n-ends law and regulations that maybe missed by your national postal system about what can really be sent to another country.

What herflyinghorses said is true, under the CPSIA an US customer is responsible to make SURE testing is done, but you may still need to do the testing before the item is sent. There are people and government agencies just interpeting this law in their own view, & some maybe custom's officals that read the law as being it must be done prior to shipping to the USA and the shipment must include all appropriate paperwork to pass though the clearinghouse. So that translates that the customer must pay you (additionally) to get the product tested to the USA standard (or show exemption from testing) & you must fill out a GCC showing compilancy, it does not exempt you from doing the actual testing or paperwork involved it just means your not directly financially responsible to pay for the testing (or time spent proving exempt status) and your extra time to fill out paperwork not required by your own government.

It's a bit like me sending costume jewelry to Italy, a few custom's officals there read the jewelry clause of their importing law to mean that no jewelry at all can be sent there without a special import license and import/export expatriation agent handling th shipment. While I've had people here read the clause to mean that the law only refers to fine jewelry that contains semi-precious (or better) gems set in sterling silver, gold, or platinum. So if I ever offer my products to someone from Italy I'm planning on adding that additional set of fees for the license and agent to the shipping amount. Since the money needs to be paid prior shipping to Italy and the paperwork needs to be included with the package (like with the CPSIA), rather than a tarfit or import fee charge by the recieving country's government or the shipping company to be paid by the customer to the delivery person, in my mind I would need to add to the listing the reason that that the shipping there is 5x more expensive than shipping elsewhere in Europe.

[herflyinghorses]

jewelrydesignsnyMe says: You may want to read this first before offering your products to USA based customers http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/newsroom/publications/trade/iius.ctt/iius.pdf . It a 211 page OVERVIEW of what must be done by an international seller prior to the item arriving at the US customs clearinghouse, rather than what the stateside customer is responsible for. Any seller that is willing to sell internationally should look up sites like this one from the countries they wish to sell to because there are many odd-n-ends law and regulations that maybe missed by your national postal system about what can really be sent to another country.
____________________________

Fair enough but it works both ways. I can provide lots of links too for what U.S sellers have to/should do before they ship items into Canada. I'm a bit tired of all the scare tactics from U.S sellers telling Canadian sellers they "can't or shouldn't"

As I stated before coffeegrl, if you are following our laws, you'll pass any CPSIA laws. We've had strict laws in place for years and the U.S is just now catching up.

[Former_Member]

herflyinghorses,
I think your missing the point I'm trying to make. It's not a "scare tactic" or a USA vs. Canada thing, all sellers that choose to sell internationally need to be responsible enought to look up another country's laws before offering to sell their products there and they need to be aware of the consequences if they don't follow the laws of the receiving country. What I'm trying to get across is that if ANY country's laws or regulations differ from the ones that ANY sellers has to abide by at home and they plan on listing items as available for shipment to that other country the seller better be aware of the reasons a package maybe stopped at the other country's border. If a seller is not prepared to "eat" the costs of any or all packages that they send internationally due to the another country's customs officials confiscating the package for non-compliancy with the recieving country's laws then they should only do business with countries that they know their items are upto the full standards of the recieving country.

Maybe I'm reading the link I have about lead in children's product for Cananda wrong but it lists the allowable lead limit by weight as 600 mg/kg and only effects certain children's product categories and is mostly concerning the surface coatings only. SCHEDULE I (Sections 2, 6, 8 and 10)PART I at http://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/H-3/20100902/page-0.html?rp2=SEARCH&rp3=SI&rp1=children%20lead&rp4=all...
While the current CPSIA allowable lead limit for substrate material is 300 mg/kg and for paints, inks (including screen printing media), vanishes, or other surface coatings being allowed to have 90 mg/kg of lead by weight and effects all product categories of items for children. If you have a more upto date or detailed link (like one that lists the allowed testing methodologies) to lead in children's products under Canadian law by all means please post it.

Here's the links about importation into Canada I have http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/sme-pme/i-guide-eng.html
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/C/C-52.6.pdf
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/H/H-3.pdf
If you have others, I'm willing to read any other ones concerning general importation or specifically the importation of jewelry to Canada that you post.

[herflyinghorses]

jewelrydesignsbyME, I can provide a ton of links and info too. Seriously, everytime I make a post about the CPSIA in regards to CANADIAN sellers, you are following right behind me trying to contradict me specifically with you super long posts. I get that you want to be "right" and discredit me. I have better things to do with my time than to try to contradict you. I'm just letting Canadian sellers know they can continue to do business.