The Handmade Toy Alliance has therefore pulled together the flow chart below in order to provide businesses with straightforward information on what does or does not have to be tested under the law.

CPSIA Testing Requirements Flowchart

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Apparel/Textile

Danielle Elizabeth Designs tweeted a link to a picture of her tracking/care label.  Apparel is already required under other laws to have labels.  CPSIA tracking information can be added to existing labels; the tracking label does not have to be a separate label.

Barking Dog Designs has a two-label solution; one with the business name, the other with the care instructions and other info.  Pictures here and here.  Remember, the information on tracking labels does not all have to be physically in the same spot.  Barking Dog Designs also uses an RN number, which enables customers to look up the business name and location in the FTC’s database.

Challenge And Fun reports that one of their vendors uses small, ready-made size labels to indicate their batch numbers on fabric dolls.

Sue of Ecoleeko has a unique method.  She uses an inexpensive set of rubber stamps to ink her tracking info onto fabric tape, then heat-sets the ink.  If you’ve been considering hand-writing info on your tags, you should look at her idea; the results are very professional looking.

Yarn crafts (crochet, knit)

Curious Workmanship glues tracking labels printed on a laserjet to her hand-crocheted baby booties.  Description here; picture here.

Hair Bows

InfantBows is not using tracking labels, since small unlabelable items are not required to have labels.

Toys

Greco Woodcrafting has their tracking label info laser-etched onto their wooden toys, and recommends collaborating with local businesses if you can’t do an in-house labeling solution.

A business that wishes to remain anonymous stamps their info onto wooden toys using permanent inks.

Books and paper goods

Lunasea Studios incorporated their tracking info into the copyright page of their Little Vampires books.

Hilary of Blynken and Nod has to hand-write her info onto her scavenger hunt card sets, but makes it look more professional by also signing and numbering each set.

Companies that make labels in small quantity, that have been recommended by small businesses:

Namemaker

Custom Couture Label Company

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The recent final lead rule detailed a disagreement between the American Library Association (ALA) and the CPSC. The ALA believes that libraries do NOT participate in commerce whereas the CPSC says that libraries DO.

The arguments made by the ALA were very weak for several reasons. Regardless if money is directly exchanged for the privilege of borrowing books, there is an exchange of services for tax payer money, which could be defined as a form of commerce. In addition one could view libraries as warehouses which perform commerce. The definitions may be stretched somewhat, but there is an even more direct example of commerce found in libraries. Libraries frequently sell discarded, or even new, books for fundraisers. Childrens’ books available for sell would be required to meet the requirements of the CPSIA in the same way that thrift stores do. In other words, they wouldn’t be required to test, but they also can’t sell anything which is non compliant. (Which begs the question of how do you know if you don’t test?) Finally, libraries distribute books and prizes as part of literacy or summer reading programs, which would be required to meet the requirements of the CPSIA.

Libraries are currently waiting for further guidance on how to handle their pre-1985 collections.

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Now that children’s books are required to have a tracking label, new books printed after August 14, 2009 should include a printing date. For older books, libraries and resellers will have to rely on the copyright date, which is not equivalent to the printing date. Publishers may have information on file on printing dates or they may not, especially for older books.

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ink,
metal or plastic spiral bindings
staples
painted surfaces
screen printed surfaces
plastic components
vinyl
felt
adhesives

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The reason this definition is problematic is that many books without play value are bound using metal or plastic parts, including staples and spiral bindings.

CPSC’s determination on exemptions from third party lead testing (August 2009) affirmed that books that are made out of paper, paper products, and other exempt materials and whose adhesives are inaccessible, and were printed after 1985, are exempt from lead testing because they are unlikely to contain more than 100 ppm of lead.  However, CPSC did not exempt books that were published before 1985.  We await a future statement of policy from CPSC regarding books published before 1985.

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Current testing recommendations would destroy library collections and XRF testing is recommended only as a screening tool.

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Regardless of printing date, novelty books, books with play value, and books containing non-exempt materials or printing methods require lead testing.

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• The exemption is voided if the material is processed in a way that introduces lead into the material.
• Materials that have a surface coating such as paint must have the surface coating tested.  For example, wood is exempt from testing, but painted wood must have the paint tested.
• Materials that are adulterated by other substances must be tested.
• If for some reason you use one of the exempt materials and by some freak of nature it happens to have too much lead in it, you’re still liable.
• Some materials that are exempt from lead testing are not exempt from phthalate testing.  Some materials exempt from phthalate testing are not exempt from lead testing.
• While we can reasonably expect that state Attorneys General will abide by the science-based findings of the CPSC in this matter, the possibility remains (however remote) that one might decide to prosecute a manufacturer for not testing one of these materials.

The following materials are considered exempt from third party lead testing by the CPSC:

• Precious metals, including gold, silver, and titanium.
• Precious and semiprecious gemstones that are not associated with lead in nature, e.g. rubies, emeralds, tourmaline, jade, quartz.
• Natural and cultured pearls.
• Wood.
• Amber.
• Minerals and fossils, except for those minerals (like galena) that are associated with lead in nature.
• Plant-based materials such as bark, essential oils, jojoba, and tung oil.
• Animal-based materials such as horn, coral, seashells, bone, shellac, and animal glue.
• Food-grade items such as beeswax, mineral oil, food coloring, herbs, milk, and honey.
• All textiles: dyed and undyed, natural and synthetic.
• Paper, cardboard, and similar wood-pulp products.
• CMYK process printing ink.
• Books, if they are made entirely of exempt materials.  All books printed after 1985 are considered to be made of exempt materials.

The following materials are exempted from third-party testing if they meet certain conditions:

• Adhesives, if they cannot be touched by a child (don’t be sloppy with your glue!).
• Stainless steel, except for 303Pb stainless steel.
• Leather, if it does not have a surface pigment (these pigments are considered in the same category as paints)
• Paper, cardboard, and other paper products, if they do not have a coating on them (such as laminating).
• Any component that is inaccessible, meaning it cannot be touched by a child’s finger.

The following materials are specifically mentioned in the document as not exempted from third-party lead testing:

• Composite wood products, like particle board
• Paints, varnishes, and lacquers
• Ceramic glazes and clay
• Glass, crystals, and rhinestones
• Art supplies
• Inks that do not become part of the paper
• Lamination
• Screen printing inks
• Metal and plastic components, such as nails, screws, zippers, buttons, snaps, hair bands, barrettes, and doll accessories
• Metal or plastic bindings used to hold books together, including staples

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A label that can be removed by defacing the product is still considered “permanent” if it wouldn’t come off during ordinary use.  Clothing labels are considered “reasonably expected” to remain on the clothing because they don’t fall off by themselves; the fact that people sometimes cut them out or accidentally rip the seams they’re sewn into is immaterial.

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