Who pays for the testing CPSIA requires?
The manufacturers of children’s products are responsible for paying the laboratories to do the testing CPSIA requires. The laboratories are privately owned, not government laboratories. CPSC maintains a list of approved laboratories that follow the procedures they recommend, and manufacturers must choose from laboratories on that list. The costs are not reimbursed by the government.
Ultimately, though, the consumer will be the one that pays. Many children’s products are manufactured on such a tight budget, with so little profit, that there is no way the manufacturers can afford to swallow costs this high. These costs will then be passed on to the customer through higher prices.
I loved this question, from one of the Congressmen at the Briefing last week to one of those affected by the law:
“If one of problems CPSIA tried to resolve was lead in toys from overseas manufacturing, does it make sense to you that most of the testing labs are overseas?”
Did he really expect an answer? Sounds more like a question we should have been asking Congress!