In August 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a proposed rule to clarify and correct its 2010 final rule on durable infant or toddler product consumer registration form requirements.¹ Comments from the trade indicate that they support the changes but suggest that CPSC allow more recognizable “brand names” to be used on the cards.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recall for November 15, 2011:

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has issued two notices announcing that interested entities can submit Offers to Supply by November 28, 2011, or provide a Rebuttal to an offer by December 2, regarding two "commercial availability" requests it received under the DR-CAFTA, on behalf of Hansoll Textile, Ltd.

The Office of Textiles and Apparel is offering a free Webinar on November 30, 2011 entitled "Mexican Customs Compliance Procedures for U.S. Textile Exporters." The Webinar will start at 2:00 pm eastern standard time. Information on advance registration will be issued shortly.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a press release on toy safety during the holiday season. The release states that there were only 34 toy recalls in fiscal year 2011, down from 172 in 2008, and attributes this to stringent new rules on lead, phthalates, testing, etc. However, a new CPSC report shows that toy-related deaths increased slightly in 2010, largely due to choking, and there were 181,500 toy-associated injuries to children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is seeking comments on its first petition for a “functional purpose” exemption from the 100 parts per million lead content limit for children’s products, a new exemption provided for by Public Law 112-28, which was enacted in August 2011. The petition concerns certain ride-on pedal tractors sized for children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for November 10, 2011:

The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation has announced Special Import Quota #112 for upland cotton that will be established on November 10, 2011, allowing importation of 14,594,057 kilograms (67,030 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than February 7, 2012, and entered into the U.S. not later than May 7, 2012. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally-adjusted average rate for the period May 2011 through July 2011, the most recent three months for which data are available.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that a federal judge has ordered Brooklyn Sleep Products Inc. of Brooklyn, NY and its president to stop manufacturing, importing, renovating and selling mattresses until they provide evidence that their mattresses comply with federal flammability laws. Additionally, a U.S. District Judge has ordered them to recall all failed mattresses, mattress sets or mattress pads sold to consumers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a proposed rule to require that periodic testing of children’s products (starting in February 2013) be conducted using representative instead of random samples to ensure continued compliance of children’s products with all applicable rules, bans, standards, and regulations. The proposed rule also includes a recordkeeping requirement associated with testing representative samples.