CPSC workshop April 3, 2014- Reducing 3rd Party Testing Costs

with No Comments

Commission Workshop – Potential Ways to Reduce Third Party Testing Costs Through Material Determinations Consistent with Assuring Compliance

CPSC has recently announced a workshop on potential ways to reduce third party testing costs, to be held at CPSC’s National Product Testing and Evaluation Center in Rockville, Maryland on Thursday, April 3.

The goal of the workshop is to provide CPSC staff with information and evidence concerning possible Commission determinations that certain materials – irrespective of their manufacturing origin or manufacturing process – (i) will comply with applicable safety standards with a high degree of assurance and (ii) without requiring third party testing. (The Commission has previously made determinations for lead content in certain materials in 16 CFR §1500.91.)

We plan to discuss the three areas in which additional determinations may be made:

1) lead content;

2) phthalate content; and

3) the solubility of the eight elements listed in the ASTM F963-11 toy safety standard.

Staff would like to emphasize that the workshop will focus on technical questions and information as detailed in the FR notice.

The FR notice includes a number of questions for each of the three areas that we would like you to address regarding topics such as raw materials, manufacturing practices, recycled materials content, contamination, and other technical issues specific to each area. Because we recognize that data and other information may not yet exist, staff is interested in discussing possible processes and methods for producing data and moving forward toward answering the questions we have raised.

We encourage you to attend and participate in the workshop by serving on a panel and making a presentation. Register and learn more here.

Deadlines: Individuals interested in serving on panels or presenting information at the workshop should register by March 13, 2014; all other individuals who wish to attend the workshop should register by March 27, 2014. The workshop will also be available through a webcast at www.cpsc.gov/live, but viewers will not be able to interact with the panels and presenters. Written comments must be received by April 17, 2014.