In a notice published in the Federal Register on August 8, 2022, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff announced that the CPSC will hold a workshop on October 13, 2022, to discuss CPSC’s eFiling Program and the Commission’s plans for a joint Beta Pilot Test with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (previously announced in the Federal Register on June 10, 2022).

During the test, which runs for six months, 30 to 50 participants will use the Partner Government Agency (PGA) Message Set to electronically file certificate data with CBP. The Beta Pilot is the second test carried out by the agencies to assess eFiling of data from a compliance certificate for regulated consumer products. Its purposes are “to develop and test the IT infrastructure necessary to support a full-scale eFiling requirement, inform CPSC’s pending rulemaking, develop internal procedures to support enforcement, and assist CPSC to target imports more accurately by enhancing targeting of non-compliant trade and facilitating the flow of legitimate trade.”

Workshop topics will include:

• CPSC’s Enforcement at the Ports

  • CPSC and CBP Collaboration Overview

  • CPSC Targeting of Imported Products

• CPSC’s Certificate Requirements

  • Statutory and Regulatory Requirements

  • Enforcement Efforts

  • Certificate Study

• Overview of CPSC eFiling Program

  • Improved Enforcement/Facilitation of Legitimate Trade—Alpha Pilot

  • Beta Pilot Test Requirements

• CPSC Procedures

  • CPSC’s Product Registry

• CBP Procedures

  • CPSC’s draft Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR)

  • CPSC’s Risk Assessment Methodology (RAM) System and Use of Risk Scores for Enforcement

• Third-Party Involvement in Certificate and eFiling Requirements

  • Role of brokers in meeting CPSC’s PGA Message Set requirement

  • Role of laboratories in meeting CPSC’s certificate requirement

• Import Issues for eFiling

  • eCommerce

  • De minimis shipments

  • Direct-to-consumer shipments

  • International Mail Facilities

  • Foreign Trade Zones

  • Filing deadlines for different modes of transport

The October 13 workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET both virtually and in person at the CPSC’s headquarters in Bethesda, MD. Interested parties must register by Thursday, October 6, 2022. Comments may be submitted following the workshop until November 11, 2022.