Has this passed yet?

[improvised]

Have these ridiculous laws passed yet, or not? I can't find anything.

[improvised]

Oh, and is elastic (for clothing) exempt?

[Former_Member]

What do you mean by passed? They are all in effect....and have been for a while.

We think elastic is on the exempt list...

[Former_Member]

It was passed on August 14th, 2008 when former President Bush signed bill 4040 into the law we now know as the CPSIA. The paint, tint, & pigment part of the law started enforcement on November 12th, 2008 with the 3rd party testing of all other children's items to take effect on February 10th, 2009 and on August 14th, 2009 the labeling portion of the law started along with the 1st step down on allowable levels on the "hazardous substances". Because there was such an outcry by the owners of small, micro, and home businesses that belately found out this law even existed about the lack of labs and clear testing criteria that they initially put a stay of 3rd party testing in effect until Fed 10th, 2010, except for items that contain paint or are considered jewelry. But as part of this stay even if there is no paint or tints to your items a nd your not making children's jewelry you still had to be sure that the products that you where producing where still within the allowable limits. At that time they also issued a list of exempt from lead testing raw materials that manufacturers, including the grannies that knit for hospitals, could use with out having to worry if the item thay made had to have assurances that the lead levels where within the safe limit. Nearly 10 months later they held a 2 day workshop that was open to the public, as long as they registered in advance, to hear concerns solely about the testing aspect of the law, that into lead to the stay being extended to Feb 10th, 2011, this time adding bicycle helmets, cribs, and pacifiers to requiring 3rd party testing to items with paint or children's jewelry. Also they issued a preliminary guidance on how we can use component testing to fill out your own GCCs.

And as for elastic it might be exempt from the lead testing. One school of though is most elastic is made of rubber which is considered exempt at the moment, but if your designs allow it I would try to enclose it in a definitely exempt component, like fabric, to be sure that phthalate testing is not needed.

[happywhosits]

If you go to http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html you can find lots of information.

Eileen...

[JansWearableJoy]

Oh, boy! Just how would one go about finding the lead content in Swarovski crystals or any crystal for that matter? I also make childrens necklaces out of polyester ribbon (seems like that should be exempt). Well, I'm off to do more research...Thanks for the link happywhosits.

[improvised]

Wow, I'm outta the loop.

[GracefullyGirly]

Definitely read up on crystal... even Swarvoski, "janswearablejoy," because crystal contains lead. You can probably find it stated on the back of the packaging. I, too, make some children's jewelry so I know it's a big concern of ours.

I don't use any crystal in ANY jewelry intended for children and don't use crystal at all unless it's encased by metal. Not that it's perfect, but I am attempting to eliminate the lead in my products at every possible corner. Can't be too safe... for the public as well as for us, as sellers not wanting problems with our products.

[Former_Member]

janswearablejoy says:
Oh, boy! Just how would one go about finding the lead content in Swarovski crystals or any crystal for that matter? I also make childrens necklaces out of polyester ribbon (seems like that should be exempt). Well, I'm off to do more research...Thanks for the link happywhosits.
_______________________________________________________________

By sheer definition of carring the Swarovski name there is a minimum of 30% by weight of lead in each crystal. By EU standards anything called crystal must have at least 4% lead by weight in the glass mixture. According to the CPSIA for now any product for children under 13 must have a test certificate stating that the lead by weight content is under 0.03% (execept for items with paint which must be below 0.009%), and this will change (as long as Congress & th House get their way) on August 10th, 2012 to a lowered limit of 0.01%. For now many but not all children's products can use supply manufacturer provided test certificates from any lab that state the lead content in PPM for their raw materials to prove this. Unfortunately jewelry along with any item that contains paint, tint, or pigments and a few select other types of products must have test certificates that are issued by a government pre-approved lab or have their completed item tested in a destructive method of testing. Another way for crafters to avoid having to test is to construct their items of completely exempt materials such as allowed fabrics and threads, sterling silver, karated gold, certain semi-precious and precious gems, edible grade materials and a small host of other base components that have currently been proven to the government not to contain lead by weight over the current limits.

The CPSC has product specific laws, regulations and standards that must be followed in addition to the more stringent CPSIA which concerns mostly what elements go into the making of a product.

The main CPSC website
http://www.cpsc.gov/

For some product there is dual jurisdiction under the FTC, like for jewelry ther is a set of regulations concerning how you are allowed to describe a piece or for clothing regulations regarding care and content labels.

The main FTC website
http://www.ftc.gov/index.shtml


Here's some reading to get you started on understanding the CPSIA.

The CPSIA main website
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

For the current full list of raw materials offically exempt from lead testing please read http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/frnotices/fr09/leaddeterminationsfinalrule-draft.pdf

CPSIA guidance for small businesses/crafters includes a quick look guide Table : B exempt raw material list
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/smbus/cpsiasbguide.pdf

An update on the stay of 3rd party testing
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10083.html

Webcasts for the 2 day public workshops in Dec 2009
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsiatesting.html

Tracking labels
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/sect103policy.pdf

CPSIA's FAQ page
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/sect103.html#103q8

The CPSC's age determination guideline http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/adg.pdf

A timeline from the CPSIA http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/rulemaking.pdf

Information on how this law is retro-active http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/advisory/317.pdf

Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Total Lead (Pb) in
Children’s Metal Products (Including Children’s Metal Jewelry) found at http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/CPSC-CH-E1001-08.pdf

Even non-metal components must be tested using destructive digestive testing read more here http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/CPSC-CH-E1002-08.pdf

Small Parts Regulations Summary http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/regsumsmallparts.pdf
Small Parts labeling
http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/label.pdf
Maybe some one else has a link to a plain english version of the small parts regulations, but these 2 links are the best I have.

Here's info about small parts warnings and how they should appear in your listings / ads
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA08/brief/toygameads.pdf page 19 of the PDF has the abbreviations & page 20 of the PDF has the warning examples are in black-n-white but I believe they need to be in certain colors on the actual label for the physical product.



On top of the government laws and regulations ther may also be certain standardizations set forth by an organization the acts as a self governing body for some products. Though following many of the industry set standizations are voluntary many consumers expect most crafters of products to follow what the standardizations are. In my case that would mean if a describe a necklace to be Opera length a customer expects that necklace to be at least 26" but no more than 36" long, anything more or less and the customer would think that I don't know what I'm doing.

[JansWearableJoy]

Thanks Jewelry By Me, its a lot to digest--you really are the guru!

[Former_Member]

marking this Thanks

[Former_Member]

Marking. It's too much info to take in this late at night!

[BellaMiaDesign]

It's because of all of this that I'm not making children's items (which I would LOVE to do). I salute you all who are dealing with this and keeping on top of things with the legality of your items. You have my utmost respect!!!

[Former_Member]

Marking... thanks for the great info!

[Lynnique]

marking