This month marks the five year anniversary of the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 into law.  Commonly referred to as the “CPSIA,” the law has had a dramatic impact over the past five years on all firms involved in manufacturing, importing and selling consumer products.  Passed by Congress in the wake of the “year of the recall” (2007), the CPSIA touches most consumer products under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”).  The law has had the most impact on companies involved with making or selling children’s products.

The law has new mandates for both general-use and children’s products regarding testing and certification, tracking labels for children’s products, lead paint and content limits for children’s products, ban on phthalates for toys and child care articles, and establishment of a public product safety database for consumers to exchange safety information and report incidents to the CPSC (saferproducts.gov).  These are only a small handful of new requirements imposed upon the consumer products industry by the law.

There has been a noticeable uptick in product safety awareness and a desire among firms manufacturing, selling and importing consumer products to enact safety compliance monitoring programs and response policies and procedures for their product lines.