Wednesday, August 19, 2009

CPSIA Requirements

Hi! I did a little research and found this to explain labeling well to all us handcrafters. :) Pretty much the info you NEED to have is:

Manufacturer's name/Business Name
Location (City, State)
Date of Manufacturing

Of course you can do more than this, but this is your basic info needed. I highly suggest an email address or website as a way to contact you.

Here is a section from the CPSIA website that refers to labeling requirements:

The Commission has received a great deal of comment and input from hand-crafters regarding the implementation of Section 103(a). As noted in the Statement of Policy, the Commission anticipates that there will be a period of education after the new requirements go into effect and expects that each manufacturer, large and small, will consider how to apply these requirements to their business.
Hand-crafters should consider the following:
What kind of tracking system do you currently use? You do not necessarily have to create a new system of lot, batch or run numbers to identify when you made your products, however your products and their packaging should identify your company in sufficient detail to enable a consumer to reach you so that the required information may be ascertained.
What information can be ascertained about your product? If someone handed you one of your products sold last year, what would you be able to tell them about the materials used? Keeping your receipts and purchase orders will help you to better know the source of your product and its components and when you began using them. Ask your fellow hand crafters if they have any tips or ideas that can help.
How is your product marked? If someone had one of your products sold last year, would they know who to call if there was a problem? Absent any unusual circumstances, your business name should be on your product with sufficient detail to enable a consumer to reach you. Congress recognized that there could be instances where marking a product might not be practicable, such as where the product is very small. Consider the examples outlined in the Statement of Policy where it might not be practicable to mark a product.
How is your packaging marked? Can a retailer of your product see from the packaging (or from the product if the product marking is still fully visible) information that they could use to take just your products from the shelf in the event of a recall?

5 comments:

Mrs H.H said...

Hi - Thanks for this very to the point blog to help us home crafters

Anonymous said...

Yes. Thanks! I am just starting out in the handmade business and I had thought about including a label but now I know I need to have one. I am working primarily in fabric (fleece). Do I need to list where my fabric came from?

Jenelle @ PerryFinalia said...

thanks for doing research for us. this takes so much time...quite frankly I just want to run away from it. But the lead poisoning for children is very serious! good job!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for making sure we know about how to comply with the gubment!

Unknown said...

Thank you for writing this out in English! I am extremely confused by all this technical talk and was quite oblivious to it all until recently.
Do you know if these rules apply to acrylic/cotton yarn for baby afghans, etc?