Toy Makers - You need to read this

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YoYoSpin

YoYoSpin

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The following is a re-print from a posting I've made on the AAW's forum:

There is a new law going into effect next February in the USA called the "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)". This law requires international and domestic manufactures of all items intended to be used by children 12 years old and younger (toys, clothing, furniture, etc…) to submit every batch of manufactured product to testing by a third-party agency. The testing is intended to certify on a manufactured batch basis that these children's items are free of hazardous materials and meet US Consumer Product Safety Commission standards. Here is a link to the Congressional Act: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsia.pdf.

The Handmade Toy Alliance sees significant problems with this act, as written, and is calling on Congress to amend the Act so that small USA, Canadian and European businesses and hobbyist are exempted from the financially onerous third-party testing provisions.

If you make toys or other items intended for children's use, you should dial into the HTA's site to read more about this legislation, the potential impact on your business or hobby income, and the proposed amendments to this Act.

Here are some links to recently published news articles on the subject...good, but scary reading:
- The federal government is here to help you
- Small toy stores fear new U.S. regulations
- New toy safety law no fun for retailers
- Legislating Montana Small Businesses Out of Business
 
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Skye said:
Man, now what am I going to do with all these guillotines I built?
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Ironically if you were selling guillotines you probably would not have a problem unless you used lead based paint or there were small parts that could be swallowed. In my day job I've been trying to get into compliance with this new rule for a few months, some of the testing agencies are running behind. This legislation stems from the lead scare for China made products that was making the rounds a little over a year ago. We were lucky to get the effective date moved back to after the Christmas shopping season. It will be a good thing if it gives consumers confidence in the safety of the products they buy, but the testing for every batch provision is causing headaches.

I see this as a regulation that is well intended, long overdue, and seriously flawed. That tends to happen when congress makes a knee-jerk reaction to a sudden public outcry.
 
Can you just sell the yoyos as 'adult toys'. (not exactly what I think of when I think of adult toys...)
 
There are probably several dance-around-the-issue disclaimer schemes that might work. The rub is if another party is involved (the retailer), you'd have to get them to buy into the disclaimer, and assume the risk of whatever may come of it.

I think the better approach would be to change the law, as proposed by the Handmade Toy Alliance , exempting hobbyist and small manufacturers from these new testing and labeling requirements.
 
I read the legislation, and I looked up the HTA's (over)reaction on its website. Guys, this legislation has nothing at all to do with hobbyists or people who sells crafts at shows. On its face, the law would not apply to the typical hobbyist or craftsman. From my point of view, the HTA is simply over-reacting to a law that is very obviously designed to apply to mass-produced products. There's nothing in the law that would apply ("fit" may be a better word) to a handmade product that is sold person-to-person. It applies to things that are made using a manufacturing process -- a toy gizmo where every gizmo is made with the same raw materials, in the same way, and packaged and sold the same way. Does that sound like a handmade craft to you?

If you make children's toys for a living and promote them on a website, then you start to get into a grey zone. For anything less than that, there's nothing in this legislation of concern.

I make scroll saw puzzles, toys, and crafts (for hobby, not for a living), and I could not be less concerned about this law.
 
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My issue is where can I find lead based paint?
Haven't seen any of that stuff in my entire adult life! (over 50).

Guvmin't is doing everything it can to destroy our economy and way of life! and that is no joke!
 
I normally tell my customers not to feed ny products to small children anyways. So I am covered I guess. Besides, who the hell uses lead paint any more? You can't even buy it if you wanted to.
 
wolftat said:
I normally tell my customers not to feed ny products to small children anyways. So I am covered I guess. Besides, who the hell uses lead paint any more? You can't even buy it if you wanted to.
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You can find it in other countries. That's the point of the legislation. It's also the point of my earlier post as to why it doesn't apply to us.
 
wolftat said:
I normally tell my customers not to feed ny products to small children anyways.
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One more thing, and then I'll climb off my soap box. I don't know if you wrote that in jest. I hope so. Any person who needs to be told not to let a child eat something dangerous or inedible is also going to be too dumb to heed the warning. Example: "remove plastic before eating" on plastic wrapped food items. Seriously. Like someone who is dumb enough to eat the plastic wrapper is going to be persuaded not to because of a written warning on a label on the wrapper. Ok.

There are some great examples of stupid warning labels that you can find with a simple Google search. Probably a lot of them are faked, but there are plenty of hilarious real ones.
 
jkeithrussell said:
One more thing, and then I'll climb off my soap box. I don't know if you wrote that in jest. I hope so. Any person who needs to be told not to let a child eat something dangerous or inedible is also going to be too dumb to heed the warning. Example: "remove plastic before eating" on plastic wrapped food items. Seriously. Like someone who is dumb enough to eat the plastic wrapper is going to be persuaded not to because of a written warning on a label on the wrapper. Ok.

There are some great examples of stupid warning labels that you can find with a simple Google search. Probably a lot of them are faked, but there are plenty of hilarious real ones.
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Yes, it was written in jest. If my customers need to be told to not feed this stuff to small children, they are probably going to be eating it themselves and not sharing anyways.:biggrin:
 
jkeithrussell said:
I read the legislation, and I looked up the HTA's (over)reaction on its website. Guys, this legislation has nothing at all to do with hobbyists or people who sells crafts at shows. On its face, the law would not apply to the typical hobbyist or craftsman. From my point of view, the HTA is simply over-reacting to a law that is very obviously designed to apply to mass-produced products. There's nothing in the law that would apply ("fit" may be a better word) to a handmade product that is sold person-to-person. It applies to things that are made using a manufacturing process -- a toy gizmo where every gizmo is made with the same raw materials, in the same way, and packaged and sold the same way. Does that sound like a handmade craft to you?

If you make children's toys for a living and promote them on a website, then you start to get into a grey zone. For anything less than that, there's nothing in this legislation of concern.

I make scroll saw puzzles, toys, and crafts (for hobby, not for a living), and I could not be less concerned about this law.
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I have also read through the legislation and while I am not a lawyer (are you?) I do not read anything into it that specifically says we, as penmakers or hobbyists, are not covered by it. While our pens and products may not be targeted directly for children under 12, they most certainly could be picked up by them and placed in their mouths as kids do all the time with anything they can grab off a table or floor. In fact, within the proposed legislation text is a section about anything less than 5cm in any dimension as being defined as being able to be inserted in a childs mouth. That would clearly cover a pen or pencil whether it is it's intended use or not.

Should a child be injured by a pen you can rest assured that some attorney would use this legislation to substantiate their case for a client. Thus, I suspect the reasoning for HTA's reaction to it. Personally, I think it far better that a group, such as HTA, petition for changes than to just let the legislation become effective without any public input. Our representatives in Congress react with legislation to many things that are not in our best interest and if someone or some group doesn't call them on it we get bad or flawed legislation. Afterall, they are supposed to represent us.
 
W3DRM said:
I have also read through the legislation and while I am not a lawyer (are you?) I do not read anything into it that specifically says we, as penmakers or hobbyists, are not covered by it. While our pens and products may not be targeted directly for children under 12, they most certainly could be picked up by them and placed in their mouths as kids do all the time with anything they can grab off a table or floor. In fact, within the proposed legislation text is a section about anything less than 5cm in any dimension as being defined as being able to be inserted in a childs mouth. That would clearly cover a pen or pencil whether it is it's intended use or not.

Should a child be injured by a pen you can rest assured that some attorney would use this legislation to substantiate their case for a client. Thus, I suspect the reasoning for HTA's reaction to it. Personally, I think it far better that a group, such as HTA, petition for changes than to just let the legislation become effective without any public input. Our representatives in Congress react with legislation to many things that are not in our best interest and if someone or some group doesn't call them on it we get bad or flawed legislation. Afterall, they are supposed to represent us.
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Yes, I'm a lawyer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the legislation. But some of the reasons that have been stated for opposing it are not valid, IMO.

Nothing in the Act excludes hobbyists. For a law to apply, it has to specifically include. It would be impossible for every law to specifically exclude those who are not meant to be impacted.

There are countless things that can fit into a child's mouth -- that doesn't make them products that are within the scope of this legislation.

As for using this legislation as a basis for a lawsuit, it doesn't work that way. The legislation does not give anyone a private cause of action. In other words, if you don't comply, that doesn't give me a valid complaint, it only gives the CPSC a valid complaint.

To me, the problem with the legislation is not the imagined impact on hobbyists. The problem is the increased costs that small business will incur in buying their products. Small toy shops, for example, buy their products from wholesalers who in turn buy them from overseas factories. The wholesalers are the primary ones who will have to demonstrate compliance with these new standards. They will pass the extra cost on to the small toy shop which, in turn, will have to raise prices. Once prices reach a certain point, everyone will simply shop at Target, Toys 'r Us, or Walmart. Personally, I think that is the government's ultimate objective, but that's a discussion for another thread and another day.
 
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I was wondering when this topic was going to pop up here it's been all over the Internet like wild fire. sites like eventlister, etsy, eBay, where the shows are, are all buzzing about it. It should be on the news soon. Hopefully they will get it fixed I am not into or can even begin to understand the legal mumbojumbo wording of stuff like that. So I will just sit back and see what happens. I would think the promoters of the Arts & Crafts shows would be worrying about this. Seems it has the potential to make prices sky rocket.

Just take a DEEP breath and try to remain calm :confused:

Bruce
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