On May 11, 2011, the European Parliament approved a second-reading agreement with the European Council on a textile labeling regulation, which includes new mandatory labeling requirements for fur and leather parts and a feasibility study on origin labeling. The rules must still be formally signed by the Member States. The new regulation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal, but will provide for a 2.5 year transition period for new labeling requirements, to allow industry time to adapt.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a closed meeting on May 18, 2011, in which the staff will brief the Commission on various compliance matters.

On May 12, 2011, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade amended and favorably reported a draft bill that would revise the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) to make it less stringent. The draft bill is not as drastic as the first version discussed in an April 7, 2011 hearing, which certain Consumer Product Safety Commission staff and Commissioners said “went too far.”

The Office of Textiles and Apparel has issued monthly reports containing official March 2011 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls on May 12, 2011:

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

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning to consumers that some “metoo” clip-on table top chairs, imported by phil&teds USA Inc., put young children at risk of serious injury due to multiple safety hazards. CPSC is urging consumers to stop using some metoo clip-on chairs immediately. CPSC adds that the company has refused to agree to a national recall of their hazardous product that is acceptable to CPSC, and CPSC has not approved a repair kit for this product, despite the firm’s prior statement that it was conducting a recall “in cooperation with the CPSC." The product is an infant/toddler chair with a nylon fabric seat and a metal frame that clamps onto tables.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission posted its Annual Report on its 2010 activities, which provides a list of all the mandatory consumer product safety standards in effect in 2010.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has published the remarks of Chairman Tenenbaum at an Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers event on May 2, 2011. During the speech, she described her four biggest priorities, the work the agency is doing on voluntary standards, interactions with China, CPSC’s public database, and her thoughts on Congressional efforts to revise the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).

A coalition of industry organizations, including the American Apparel and Footwear Association and the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), recently sent a letter to the State Department urging it to downgrade Uzbekistan to Tier III status under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, as Uzbekistan is not in compliance with TVPA due to its use of forced child labor in the cotton sector. The downgrade would result in the cutoff of all non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance to the Government of Uzbekistan. The letter is available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.