In a recent decision, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will stay its policy concerning specific testing and certification provisions affecting bicycles due to a continued lack of third-party labs certified to do the work.
The stay applies to section 14 of the Consumer Product Safety Act as amended by section 102 of the Consumer Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which was passed largely in response to a public outcry over the discovery of lead tainted toy imports from China.
The commission is extending the stay for certain bicycles to August 14, 2010, with two exceptions. First, the commission is extending the stay related to reflectors until Nov. 14, 2010. Second, bicycles with non-quill-type stems are excluded from certifying compliance until further notice.
For non-children’s products, the certification must be based on a test of each product or a reasonable testing program. For children’s products, the certification must be based on testing conducted by a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory.
The Commission announced the criteria and process for accepting accreditation of third party labs in a notice of requirements that appeared in the Federal Register on Sept. 2, 2009.
On Feb. 9, 2009, the Commission published a notice in the Federal Register staying enforcement of the testing and certification requirements for many products, including bicycles. The Commission committed to the stay for one year, explaining that the stay was necessary to “give us the time needed to develop sound rules and requirements as well as implement outreach efforts to explain these [new] requirements of the CPSIA and their applicability.”
