I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4850 

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to increase the civil penalties 

for certain violations relating to children’s products containing lead. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. CLARKE, 

and Mr. MEEK of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to increase 

the civil penalties for certain violations relating to children’s products containing lead. 

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 ‘‘Sanctions to Eliminate 

5 Products Unsafe to the Public Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘STEP 

6 UP Act of 2007’’. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
2 

•HR 4850 IH

1 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE OF CHILDREN’S 

2 PRODUCTS WITH CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFE3 TY RULES. 

4 (a) EXPANSION OF CERTIFICATION REQUIRE5 MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 14 of the Consumer 

6 Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2063) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para8 graph (5); 

9 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘Every manufacturer’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph 

12 (2),’’; and 

13 (B) by designating the second and third 

14 sentences as paragraphs (3) and (4), respec15 tively, and indenting the margin of such para16 graphs, as so designated, 2 ems from the left 

17 margin; 

18 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(2) Every manufacturer of a children’s prod21 uct (and the private labeler of such product if it 

22 bears a private label) which is subject to a consumer 

23 product safety standard under this Act or a rule 

24 under this or any other Act administered by the 

25 Commission declaring a consumer product a banned 

26 hazardous product shall issue a certificate which 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
3 

•HR 4850 IH

1 shall certify that such product conforms to such con2 sumer product safety standard or is not a banned 

3 hazardous product under such rule, and shall specify 

4 such consumer product safety standard or such 

5 rule.’’; 

6 (4) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by para7 graph (2)(B), by striking ‘‘Such certificate shall’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘A certificate required under this sub9 section shall’’; and 

10 (5) in paragraph (5), as redesignated by para11 graph (1)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘required by paragraph (1) 

13 of this subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘required by 

14 paragraph (1) or (2) (as the case may be)’’; 

15 and 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘requirement under para17 graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘requirement under 

18 paragraph (1) or (2) (as the case may be)’’. 

19 (b) THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—Sub20 section 14(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 2063(b)) is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘The Commission may’’ and in23 serting ‘‘(1) The Commission may’’; 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
4 

•HR 4850 IH

1 (2) by designating the second sentence as para2 graph (2) and indenting the margin of such para3 graph, as so designated, 2 ems from the left margin; 

4 (3) in paragraph (2), as so designated, by strik5 ing ‘‘Any test or’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided 

6 in paragraph (3), any test or’’; and 

7 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) In the case of a children’s product, any 

9 test or testing program on the basis of which a cer10 tificate is issued under subsection (a)(2) shall be 

11 conducted by a nongovernmental independent third 

12 party qualified to perform such tests or testing pro13 grams.’’. 

14 (c) DEFINITION OF CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS AND

15 INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY.—Section 14 of the Con16 sumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2063) is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following 

19 definitions apply: 

20 ‘‘(1) CHILDREN’S PRODUCT.—The term ‘chil21 dren’s product’ means a toy or other article intended 

22 for use by a child under 60 months of age that is 

23 introduced into the interstate stream of commerce. 

24 In determining whether a toy or article is intended 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
5 

•HR 4850 IH

1 for use by a child under 60 months of age, the fol2 lowing factors shall be considered: 

3 ‘‘(A) A statement by a manufacturer about 

4 the intended use of such toy or article, includ5 ing a label on such toy or article, if such state6 ment is reasonable. 

7 ‘‘(B) The context and manner of the ad8 vertising, promotion, and marketing associated 

9 with the toy or article. 

10 ‘‘(C) Whether the toy or article is com11 monly recognized by consumers as being in12 tended for use by a child under 60 months of 

13 age. 

14 ‘‘(D) The Age Determination Guideline 

15 issued by the Consumer Product Safety Com16 mission in September 2002 and any subsequent 

17 version of such Guideline. 

18 ‘‘(2) INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY.—The term 

19 ‘independent third party’, with respect to a testing 

20 entity, means an independent testing entity that is 

21 physically separate from any manufacturer or pri22 vate labeler whose product will be tested by such en23 tity, and is not owned, managed, controlled, or di24 rected by such manufacturer or private labeler.’’. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
6 

•HR 4850 IH

1 (d) LABEL AND CERTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 

2 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Con3 sumer Product Safety Commission shall prescribe a rule 

4 in accordance with subsection (c) of section 14 of the Con5 sumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2063) for children’s 

6 products described in subsection (d)(1) of such section, as 

7 added by subsection (c) of this section. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTS OF CHILDREN’S PROD9 UCTS WITHOUT THIRD-PARTY TESTING CER10 TIFICATION. 

11 Section 17(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 

12 (15 U.S.C. 2066) is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

14 end; 

15 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

16 the end and inserting a semicolon and ‘‘or’’; and 

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

18 ‘‘(6) is a children’s product, as that term is de19 fined in section 14(d), that is not accompanied by a 

20 certificate from a third-party verification entity re21 quired by section 14(a)(2).’’. 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
7 

•HR 4850 IH

1 SEC. 4. CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CHILDREN’S PRODUCTS CON2 TAINING LEAD. 

3 Section 20(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act 

4 (15 U.S.C. 2069(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding the civil penalties set forth in 

7 paragraph (1), if the violations described in such para8 graph involve any children’s product (as defined in section 

9 14(d)(1)) that contains lead in violation of an applicable 

10 consumer product safety standard, the applicable civil pen11 alty shall be in an amount not to exceed $20,000 for each 

12 violation, and a maximum civil penalty not to exceed 

13 $10,000,000 for any related series of violations.’’. 

Æ 


bajohnson on PROD1PC69 with BILLS