I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1815 

To clarify the applicability of certain provisions in the Consumer Product 

Safety Improvement Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 31, 2009 

Mr. BARTON of Texas (for himself, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mrs. MYRICK, 

Mr. BLUNT, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. SULLIVAN, 

Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. TERRY, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. PITTS, and 

Mr. THORNBERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To clarify the applicability of certain provisions in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Product 

5 Safety Solutions Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROSPECTIVE APPLICATION OF LEAD LIMITS AND 

2 THIRD PARTY TESTING REQUIREMENTS. 

3 (a) LEAD CONTENT.—Section 101 of the Consumer 

4 Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 

5 1278a) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) through (g) 

7 as subsections (c) through (h), respectively; 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol9 lowing new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) 600 PARTS PER MILLION.—Subsection 

12 (a)(2)(A) shall apply beginning February 10, 2009, 

13 only to any children’s product that is manufactured 

14 after such date, and after February 9, 2010, to any 

15 children’s product regardless of the date of manufac16 ture. 

17 ‘‘(2) 300 PARTS PER MILLION.—Subsection 

18 (a)(2)(B) shall apply beginning 2 years after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act only to any children’s 

20 product that is manufactured after such date, and 

21 beginning 3 years after the date of enactment of this 

22 Act, to any children’s product regardless of the date 

23 of manufacture.’’; 

24 (3) in subsection (e)(2), by striking ‘‘subsection 

25 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; and 


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1 (4) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘or (b)’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘or (c)’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 subsections (a) shall be treated as having taken effect on 

5 August 15, 2008. 

6 SEC. 3. PROSPECTIVE APPLICATION OF PHTHALATES PRO7 HIBITION. 

8 (a) APPLICATION OF PHTHALATES PROHIBITION.— 

9 Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement 

10 Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 1257c) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignated subsections (c) through (e) 

12 as subsection (d) through (f), respectively; and 

13 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Subsections (a) and (b)(1) and 

16 any rule promulgated under subsection (b)(3) shall apply 

17 beginning February 10, 2009, only to any children’s prod18 uct that is manufactured after such date, and after Feb19 ruary 9, 2010, to any children’s product regardless of the 

20 date of manufacture.’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 subsections (a) shall be treated as having taken effect on 

23 August 15, 2008. 


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1 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF TESTING METHODOLOGIES. 

2 (a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product 

4 Safety Commission shall promulgate a rule setting forth 

5 the testing methodology or methodologies which the Com6 mission determines shall be used for purposes of deter7 mining compliance with sections 101(a) and 108 of the 

8 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (15 

9 U.S.C. 1278a(a); 2057c). 

10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR CONFORMITY CERTIFI11 CATION.—Section 14(a)(1) of the Consumer Product Safe12 ty Act (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(1)) is amended by striking 

13 ‘‘Except as provided’’ and inserting ‘‘Beginning 90 days 

14 after the issuance of a rule required by section 4(a) of 

15 the Consumer Product Safety Solutions Act of 2009 ex16 cept as provided’’. 

17 (c) TEMPORARY RULE OF COMPLIANCE.—Beginning 

18 February 10, 2009, and continuing until a rule is promul19 gated under subsection (a), any children’s product that is 

20 tested for conformity with the requirements of section 

21 101(a) and section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety 

22 Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 1278a(a); 2057c) 

23 and certified pursuant to section 14(a)(1) of the Con24 sumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(1)) shall 

25 be considered to be in compliance with such section if such 

26 children’s product was tested in good faith and in accordVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:05 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1815.IH H1815

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1 ance with a reasonable testing methodology and the prod2 uct was certified based on the results of such testing. 

3 SEC. 5. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FROM LEAD 

4 CONTENT LIMIT. 

5 Section 101(c)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety 

6 Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 1278a(c)(1)) (as re7 designated by section 1) is amended— 

8 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

9 by striking ‘‘material will neither—’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘material—’’ 

11 (2) in subparagraph (A)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘result in the absorption of 

13 any lead into the human body’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘will not result in the absorption of lead into 

15 the human body in excess of the amounts set 

16 forth under subsection (a)(2)’’; 

17 (B) by inserting ‘‘of the age for which the 

18 product is intended’’ after ‘‘child’’; and 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘nor’’ and inserting ‘‘or’’; 

20 and 

21 (3) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘have any 

22 other’’ and inserting ‘‘will not have any’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. WAIVER OF THIRD PARTY TESTING REQUIREMENT 

2 FOR CERTAIN COMPONENT PARTS. 

3 Section 14(g) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 

4 (15 U.S.C. 2063(g)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(5) SPECIAL RULE FOR LEAD CONTENT AND

7 PHTHALATE CONTENT TESTING AND CERTIFI8 CATION.—Subsection (a) shall not require the manu9 facturer or private labeler of a children’s product to 

10 test such product for, or certify it with respect to, 

11 lead content or phthalate content, as applicable, if— 

12 ‘‘(A) each component of the product that is 

13 required to be tested for compliance with sec14 tions 101(a) and 108 of the Consumer Product 

15 Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 

16 1278a(a); 2057c) has been tested for lead con17 tent or phthalate content, as applicable, by the 

18 manufacturer or private labeler of the compo19 nent; and 

20 ‘‘(B) the manufacturer or private labeler of 

21 each such component certifies that the compo22 nent does not contain more lead than the limit 

23 established by subsection (a)(2) and (f) of sec24 tion 101 of the Consumer Product Safety Im25 provement Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 1278a(a)(2) 

26 and (f)) or the applicable phthalate limit in efVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:05 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1815.IH H1815

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1 fect under section 108 of such Act, as applica2 ble.’’. 

3 SEC. 7. EXEMPTIONS FROM TRACKING LABEL REQUIRE4 MENTS. 

5 Section 14(a)(5) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 

6 (15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(5)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘Effective’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) 

8 IN GENERAL—Effective’’; 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(B) COMMISSION EXEMPTIVE AUTHOR12 ITY.—The Commission may, by rule, exempt or 

13 modify any of the requirements of this section 

14 for any product or product category, if the 

15 Commission determines such requirement to be 

16 unduly burdensome or cost prohibitive in rela17 tionship to the potential risk presented by such 

18 product or product category, or not practical 

19 due to the intended use of such product or 

20 product category.’’. 

21 SEC. 8. GENERAL APPLICATION AND EXEMPTIVE AUTHOR22 ITY. 

23 Section 3 of the Consumer Product Safety Improve24 ment Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 2051 note) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘The’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN

2 GENERAL.—The’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO EXTEND OR DELAY EFFECTIVE

5 DATES.—The Commission may extend the application of 

6 the effective date of any provision of this Act or the 

7 amendments made by this Act with respect to any par8 ticular manufacturer, distributer, or retailer or class of 

9 manufacturers, distributors, or retailers if the Commission 

10 determines that a delay would better promote public safety 

11 and that a later effective date is in the public interest and 

12 publishes the reason for such a determination. 

13 ‘‘(c) EXEMPTIVE AUTHORITY.—The Commission 

14 may exempt a particular manufacturer, distributor, or re15 tailer or class of manufacturers, distributors, or retailers 

16 from any provision of this Act or the amendments made 

17 by this Act if the Commission determines that a delay 

18 would better promote public safety and that such exemp19 tion is in the public interest and publishes the reason for 

20 such determination.’’. 

21 SEC. 9. COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product 

24 Safety Commission shall develop and make available on 

25 the Commission’s Internet website a compliance guide to 


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1 assist small businesses in complying with the requirements 

2 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et 

3 seq.) and other Acts enforced by the Commission. 

4 (b) CONTENTS.—The guide— 

5 (1) shall be designed to assist small businesses 

6 to determine— 

7 (A) whether the Consumer Product Safety 

8 Act (or any other Act enforced by the Commis9 sion) applies to their business activities; 

10 (B) whether they are considered distribu11 tors, manufacturers, private labelers, or retail12 ers under such Act or Acts; and 

13 (C) which rules, standards, regulations, or 

14 statutory requirements apply to their business 

15 activities; 

16 (2) shall provide guidance on how to comply 

17 with any such applicable rule, standard, regulation, 

18 or requirement, including— 

19 (A) what actions they should take to en20 sure that they meet the requirements; and 

21 (B) how to determine whether they have 

22 met the requirements; and 

23 (3) may contain such additional information as 

24 the Commission considers appropriate, including 


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1 telephone, e-mail, and Internet contacts for compli2 ance support and information. 

Æ 


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