April 22, 2010

The TIA recently announced that the formal certification component of the Toy Safety Certification Program^® was being placed on hold pending further clarification of the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

The TIA pledged to make all aspects of TSCP^® available as online resources to help all toy companies, importers, and testing laboratories facilitate compliance with the federally mandated CPSIA.

According to the TIA, the fundamental requirements of the formal TSCP certification program are consistent with current guidance from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) encouraging toy companies to establish and implement "Reasonable Testing Programs" that address testing, quality control, and design issues. The TIA stated that, after careful analysis, it "has determined that it can best assist the toy industry by redefining the TSCP's design and manufacturing requirements as industry best practices that can be freely adopted by toy companies and importers as they await further clarification from the Commission on CPSIA enforcement criteria and policies. The guidance will also be useful for laboratories duly qualified to perform testing as required under CPSC requirements and regulations or as part of a company's quality assurance process."

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