US CPSC Exempts Certain Fibers from Third Party Testing

On June 1, 2020 the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (US CPSC) issued a final rule in the Federal Register (85 FR 33015) to determine that several unfinished manufactured fibers would not exceed the regulatory limits for ASTM F963 soluble elements or phthalates in toys and childcare articles. From the determinations, these fibers would not be required to undergo third party testing for compliance with the eight soluble elements in ASTM F963 (16 CFR 1250) or the eight phthalates in toys and child care articles falling under 16 CFR 1307. 

According to the definitions in the final rule, an unfinished manufactured fiber means ‘a fiber that has no chemical additives beyond those required to manufacture the fiber’ – it is free of any chemical additives to impact color, or some desirable performance property, such as flame retardancy.

This final rule creates a completely new 16 CFR  Part 1253 ‘Children’s Toys and Child Care Articles: Determinations Regarding the ASTM F963 elements and Phthalates for Unfinished manufactured Fibers’.

The final rule will become effective on July 1, 2020.

Highlights of the final rule are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1

Abbreviations

Table 2

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