Children’s products regulations in the USA

Planning to sell toys and other children’s products in the United States? In this guide, we explain what importers must know about mandatory children’s products safety standards, labeling, and certification in the United States.

Content Overview

• CPSIA
• Mandatory Lab Testing
• CPSIA Tracking Label
• Children’s Product Certificate (CPC)
• Registration Card
• Amazon Requirements
• Quality Inspections

CPSIA

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is a mandatory regulation applicable to all children’s products sold in the United States. CPSIA defines essentially all products sold to children off 12 years or younger - as children’s products.

Checklist

1. Is the product sold to children of 12 years or younger?

2. Is this product type generally considered as suitable to children of 12 years or younger?

3. Is the product presented as suitable to children of 12 years or younger?

If the answer is “yes” to any of the above, then you can safely assume that CPSIA compliance is mandatory for your products. I strongly advise against trying to find ways around it.

Mandatory Lab Testing

Third-party lab testing is mandatory for all products within the scope of CPSIA. In addition, you can only book testing from a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) accepted testing company.

How to find a CPSC accepted testing company

You can search CPSC approved labs on this website. For example, by searching ‘Bureau Veritas’ you will find that BV has CPSC approved labs in Mainland China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Korea - and the United States itself.

Note that testing doesn’t necessarily have to take place in the United States. What matters is that the test report is issued by a CPSC approved company.

ASTM testing

CPSA is not a standard. Instead, your lab will help you confirm which ASTM standards apply to your product. The specific standards differ depending on the product.

Further, ASTM standards cover various product safety aspects:

• Mechanical and physical properties (e.g. sharp edges)
• Chemicals and heavy metals (e.g. lead and phthalates)
• Flammability

Here are some examples:

ASTM F963 - 17 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety

ASTM F3084 - 18 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant and Infant/Toddler Rockers

ASTM F2670 - 18 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant Bath Tubs

Test Report

You will receive a test report once the testing is completed. Assuming your product pass the lab test, you then have a test report to prove that your products are compliant.

CPSIA Tracking Label

The purpose of the tracking label is to ensure that you and your customers can quickly report and recall non-compliant and potentially dangerous products. The tracking label must in most cases be present on the product and the packaging.

Label Information

• Importer company name
• Production location
• Production date
• Batch number

Example

• The Toy Company LLC
• Production Location: Shantou, China
• Production Date: June 2019
• Batch Number: A01-0619-ST-CN

You must create the label file and submit it to your supplier before production starts.

Children’s Product Certificate (CPC)

Importers must also issue a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC). This document is not obtained by a third-party, but self-issued. You can find free CPC templates on the official CPSC website.

Here’s an overview of what you need:

• Importer identity
• US phone number
• US address
• E-mail address
• Testing date
• Country of origin
• Testing company
• List of applicable ASTM standards
• Product name
• Materials
• Colors
• SKU

Note that the CPSC may accept foreign addresses and phone numbers on the CPC. However, I know that Amazon tends to be more strict.

Registration Card

Certain products classified as ‘durable baby products’ also require a registration card delivered with the product. Here’s what you need to include:

• Postage-paid to a US address
• Model number
• Manufacture date
• Importer name
• Website
• US address
• US phone number (Toll-Free)

Here are also some products for which the registration card is required:

• Cribs
• Baby swings
• Baby walkers
• Baby bathtubs
• Baby beds
• Baby beds

Amazon Requirements

Amazon is strict when it comes to selling children’s products on its marketplace. They require that you can provide a complete set of test reports and children’s product certificate for each SKU you intend to sell.

Further, Amazon will check that the test report information (e.g. product SKU, importer, address, date, PO number) is matching what you have stated on the children’s product certificate.

If not, they can reject your listing or even suspend you.

As such, I don’t recommend that you try to skip lab testing by using outdated test reports provided by your supplier. The test report should be valid for the specific products you are importing and issued in your company name - not your suppliers.

CSPC Small Business Ombudsman

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when it comes to CPSIA compliance. It’s a straightforward and rather simple process once you’ve done it once. That said, you should consider using the CSPC Small Business Ombudsman if you feel stuck or confused.

The CSPC Small Business Ombudsman is a free service, offering guidance and support to importers and manufacturers. You can ask questions about testing, the CPC, tracking label, registration card and everything else you need to know about CPSIA.

Quality Inspections

Quality inspections are not a ‘mandatory’ part of the CPSIA process. However, quality inspections are still critical when it comes to ensuring that your products are CPSIA compliant.

Label Check

You need to verify that your products carry the correct CPSIA tracking labels, before shipment. If you send a batch of incorrectly labeled products to the USA you will need to get the products relabeled. The US customs can reject your products based on this alone.

As such, instruct your quality inspection company to check the labels during the pre-shipment inspections.

Lab test sample collection

Lab testing cannot take place in the factory, or be carried out by the quality inspector. That said, CPSIA testing should be done on product samples collected from your batch. Most QC companies can collect samples, and bring back to their own testing facility or send it to another company.

That way you can be sure that the tested sample actually represents the product batch you importing to the United States.