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On July 20, 2011 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to approve new third party testing and certification requirements on children's toys, but also approved a stay of enforcement on the requirements until December 31, 2011. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 directed the CPSC to adopt and make mandatory the existing voluntary safety standards for toys, and to require testing to those standards. In May 2009 the CPSC adopted the ASTM standard F 963-08 as the mandatory safety standard for toys and ASTM F 963-07-1 as the mandatory safety standard for toy chests. However, enforcement of the testing requirement was delayed in order to allow the CPSC to finalize their regulations and to give manufacturers, importers and private labeler’s time to put a testing program into place. With its latest vote, the CPSC will begin enforcing the third party testing and certification of compliance requirements on toys manufactured or imported after December 2011.
100 ppm Lead Content Limit on Children's Products Effective August 14 In a Federal Register notice published July 26, 2011 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that the 100 parts per million (ppm) lead content limit on children's products is effective August 14, 2011. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) provided that children’s products may not contain more than 100 ppm of lead unless it was determined that such a limit was not technologically feasible. After requesting comments on this requirement and holding a public hearing in February 2011, no such determination was made by the CPSC. Therefore, according to the notice, "all children’s products sold, offered for sale, manufactured for sale, distributed in commerce, or imported for sale in the United States must meet the 100 ppm lead content limit beginning August 14, 2011 as statutorily mandated by the CPSIA unless otherwise excluded under 16 CFR 1500.87 through 1500.91." Regarding bicycles and related products and youth motorized recreational vehicles, a stay of enforcement on the lead content limit remains in effect until December 31, 2011. The full text of the Federal Register notice can be accessed online at:
BIS Proposes Revisions to Export Regulations In a Federal Register notice published July 15, 2011 the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposed a number of amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and requested comments from interested parties. As part of the Export Control Reform initiative, the Departments of Commerce and State have been working together to simplify and strengthen the U.S. export regulations and to revise the two primary lists of controlled items, the Commerce Control List (CCL) and the United States Munitions List (USML). Proposed updates to the EAR include: Comments must be received by September 13, 2011. The full text of the Federal Register notice can be accessed online at:
CBP to Restrict Rice Imports from Countries with Khapra Beetle Infestations In a news release published July 25, 2011 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) advised that, effective July 30, 2011, it would begin enforcing a federal quarantine order restricting the importation of rice from countries with known Khapra beetle infestations. According to the news release, "The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is restricting the importation of rice from countries known to have Khapra beetle due to an increasing number of detections at U.S. ports of entry of infested shipments of rice from these countries. The introduction and establishment of Khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) into the U.S. poses a serious threat to stored agricultural products, including spices, grains and packaged foods." Commercial shipments of rice which originate from the affected countries must be inspected and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the shipment was inspected and found free of Khapra beetle. All noncommercial shipments from the affected countries will be prohibited. The list of countries where Khapra beetle are known to occur include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cyprus, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates. The CBP news release is available online at:
Tons News, for current and past issues of Tons News by E-mail request from tonsnews@tonslogistics.com or call (310) 338-0337. ________________________________________ Tons News is compiled from a number of public sources that, to the best of Tons knowledge, are true and correct. It is our intent to present only accurate information. However, in the event any information contained herein is erroneous, Tons accepts no liability or responsibility. |