Small businesses seek relief from product safety law - bizjournals:

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Congress passed the Consumer Products Safeth Improvement Act in August 2008 in responsed to the discovery of high lead contenrt in toys importedfrom China. But U.S. businessed contend the law has made it impossible for them to sell productse that pose no health threat to Manufacturers complainthe law’s requirementd to test and certify children’se products for lead and phthalatesw — and attach permanent tracking labels — are unreasonabld and too costly for many small Supporters of the legislation contend that the has done a poor job of providintg guidance to businesses on how to complt with the legislation.
They also maintain the commission has the authority to exclude certain classes of products fromthe law’s requirementzs if they don’t pose a health But Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, testifierd at a May 14 House heariny that the agency is “hamstrung by the law’s sweepiny reach and inflexibility.” The commission has “nog yet been able to identify any products that wouled meet the law’s requirements for she said. On Jan. 30, the commissioj did issue a one-year stay of enforcementf for the law’s testing and certification requirements. “I t was very clear people were not ready to meet the Nord said.
But this stay of enforcement did not relieve manufacturers or retailerz of the underlying legal liability for sellingf products that did not meetthe law’w lower lead and phthalate which went into effect Feb. 10. “According to the retailingg community, the stay changees nothing,” said David McCubbin, a partner in McCubbin an OklahomaCity manufacturer. “Retailersz continue to ask us to test.” Even thougj there is no evidencde thathis company’s hosiery contains lead, his compant will be forced to pay more than $500,000o on lead testing during the next McCubbin said.
Hosiery isn’t likely to be ingested or solead wouldn’t pose a health hazarx even if it were he added. Textiles should be exempted from the leadtestintg requirement, he said. For Swimways a Virginia Beach, Va.-based manufacturer of wate r products, the problem isn’t lead, it’s phthalates — compounds often used to soften vinyl. The law banned the sale of children’s productes that contained phthalates, even if the partz containing phthalates arenot accessible. Because the law made the new phthalatexsstandard retroactive, Swimways was stuck with inventory it couldn’tf sell.
Retailers returned or destroyed Swimways merchandise and charged Swimways forthe expense. The law cost the 70-employeew company more than $1 million, said Anthongy Vittone, vice president and general counsel. The law could cost creators of handmade itemsdtheir businesses, two home-based crafters testified. Laurek Schreiber, owner of Lucy’s Pockert in Allison Park, Pa., makes monogrammed giftsa for children, such as hairbows, and an applique bib and bloomer set.