Proposed Amendment includes Flame Retardants in Children’s Products

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flame retardantProposed amendment, House Bill 2934 (Decrease Unsafe Toxins Act), will amend the CPSIA to ban flame retardant chemicals from use in resilient filling materials in children’s products.

The proposed amendment would require manufacturers of children’s products which contain resilient filling materials, such as high chairs, strollers, infant walkers, booster seats, car seats, changing pads, floor play mats, highchair pads, highchairs, infant swings, bassinets, infant seats, infant bouncers, nursing pads, playards, playpen side pads, infant mattresses, infant mattress pads, and portable hook-on chairs to not contain more than 1,000 ppm of flame retardant chemicals.

Currently, strollers, infant carriers, and nursing pillows have been exempt from California’s Furniture Flammability Standard Technical Bulletin (TB117) since 2010 and the proposed revision of California’s (TB117-2013) includes a provision to exempt 17 more baby and infant products from the standard. This is due to the State agency’s understanding that these products do not present a significant fire hazard.

Since California has been the “de facto standard” for flammability in upholstered products, the bill is seen to bring into harmonization the changes in TB117 and the CPSIA.

Do you have questions about Flame Retardants in your product?

Jacoby Solutions provides consulting services for compliance related issues.

Contact Us Today if you need help in this area!

Making Green Claims with Regards to Your Products

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environmental-marketing-claimsDo you make any green claims with your products? Three mattresses firms recently reached a settlement with the FTC and agreed to discontinue unsupported claims that their mattresses where free of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).  VOC’s are carbon-containing compounds that may be harmful to human health and the environment.  The settlement prohibited the mattresses companies from claiming their products where free of VOC’s without competent and reliable scientific evidence that the mattresses actually contain either zero micrograms per cubic meter or no more than just a trace amount of VOC’s.

Environmental claims about products are becoming more and more prevalent especially with products sold to children under the age of 12 years.  These claims include things like; BPA free, Odor free, 100 percent natural materials, Phthalate free, etc.  These types of Environmental Benefit claims are closely scrutinized by the FTC and must be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence.

When manufacturers and importers say a product is green and “free of” a chemical or substance, the product must not contain the chemical or substance or have only a trace amount.  The “trace amount” test is met if;

  • The level of the chemical or substance is less than that which would be found as an acknowledged trace contaminant or background level
  • The chemical or substance’s presence does not cause material harm that consumers typically associate with it
  • The chemical or substance has not been added intentionally

The FTC’s Green Guides are a valuable resource when analyzing whether a “green claim” is adequately supported.

Do you have questions about your Environmental Benefit claim related your product or packaging?

Jacoby Solutions provides consulting services for compliance related issues.

Contact Us Today if you need help in this area!

Jacoby Solutions Launches CPSIA Ready

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Jacoby Solutions has launched CPSIA Ready, a cloud-based software platform and services solution giving manufacturing and importing companies the ability to quickly and effectively comply with all aspects of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA ).

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Kids Today Staff — Kids Today, 8/1/2013

  The product-centric solution was designed with business operations and continuously evolving compliance regulations in mind. CPSIA Ready helps customers embed compliance into      operations so they can easily become and remain compliant across all of the CPSIA ‘s requirements.

Two recent settlement agreements issued by the CPSC require companies to set up an expansive compliance system including: (1) proof of written compliance standards and policies, (2) retention of all compliance-related records for a minimum of five years; (3) assignment of a senior-level compliance manager/officer; (4) a confidential and operational process for employees to be able to report compliance related questions or issues to a compliance manager/officer; and (5) mandatory training on company compliance-related policies and procedures for all applicable employees and stakeholders.
“Compliance is no longer about testing. Companies must ‘exercise due care,’ across many of the CPSC’s mandates,” said Bill Jacoby, principal of Jacoby Solutions. “With CPSIA Ready and our on-line compliance training program, CPSIA U, companies can easily achieve compliance with reduced time, cost and resources. CPSIA Ready also tracks and stores product information, and provides easy due process for employees to achieve mandatory training on various elements of the compliance law.”
CPSIA Ready notifies companies of new compliance regulations and provides manufacturers and importers with a system that enables them to:
• Quickly create and send compliance certificates to retailers/distributors;
• Create and manage test plans by product and manufacturing facility;
• Manage and document material changes within products;
• Centralize storage of test reporting and compliance documentation;
• Provide access to a company compliance portal with an e-learning portal for mandatory training; and
• Reduce documentation storage costs in a tightly secured, cloud-based environment.
Jacoby said flexible pricing programs enable CPSIA Ready to create the exact solution to fit the needs of every organization.