Northup leads effort to extend the stay of enforcement

Official Statement

Yesterday, Commissioner Anne Northup successfully sought an extension of the stay of enforcement for testing and certification requirements for lead content imposed by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The Commission voted 4-1 to extend the stay until February 10, 2011 instead of yesterday’s proposed date of August 10, 2010.

To Stay or Not to Stay... Lead Is Still Undecided

The general public may find today's split vote on lifting the stay a tad bit confusing. Let me offer a brief explanation. After working for many weeks to reach a consensus on all but one of the issues regarding lifting the stay on testing and certification, I wanted to be able to vote with the majority on these items. My staff worked with Chairman Tenenbaum's staff to make clear that I would vote in favor of lifting the stay so long as lead content was not included in the vote. There are many outstanding issues to address with testing and certification for lead content, and the Commission needs ample time to do so. However, when I finally received the vote documents at 1:48 a.m. (rather than the required 5 days in advance), I discovered that lead was back in…..we’d be voting on all the issues together, in one vote.

For this reason, I proposed separating the vote on lifting the stay for lead content from everything else proposed in the document. As a result, the Commission voted unanimously today to move forward with a plan for lifting the stay on the bulk of issues and to postpone the lead vote until tomorrow.

Check back later today for updates...

CPSC Votes for Complex Stay Approach

Open response to today's email campaign

Thank you so much for writing me about your concerns with the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s pending decision to lift the stay of enforcement on testing and certification for lead content. I am very concerned that lifting the stay prematurely will devastate the market – particularly, small businesses. There is no reason to rush lifting the stay for testing and certification of products that contain lead in a form that does not affect a child’s health.

We need to find a way to make the CPSIA a practical law that will protect children from risk without creating a cost-prohibitive compliance process. Small manufacturers and retailers cannot spread the price of compliance over as many items as larger companies. For this reason, the component testing rule is a fundamental element of compliance and has to precede any lifting of the stay. We should avoid making it financially difficult for American businesses employing American workers to bring innovative, quality products to market that comply with the law.

I am actively looking for a way to bring a reasonable, common sense interpretation to the CPSIA. I led the effort to ask the Commission to support a more flexible interpretation, but unfortunately it did not receive a majority of the Commissioners' votes. Hopefully we can find a reasonable path forward before the stay is lifted.

I invite you to read my new blog, www.SafetyandCommonSense.blogspot.com. The examples you are sending me really help demonstrate the problem and I hope that you will send me more details, facts, or anything that shows me how you are being affected by the CPSIA: How much has it cost you? How are you coping with those costs? Have you eliminated product lines because testing costs made them unprofitable? Your real-life stories are the best way to show the perverse effects of the law – that we are hurting our businesses without any real upgrade to our children’s safety. I also invite you to post the letter you sent me on my blog where your story can be seen by others.

Thank you again for your email. Please do not hesitate to send me more at Commissioner_Northup@cpsc.gov in the future. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Sincerely,
Anne Northup