Some answers (sort of) on the CPSIA  Posted by: John Tozzi on
January 14, 2009  One of the biggest problems in the firestorm
over the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has been a lack
of clarity from regulators. (Again, this is the new law intended
to reduce lead in children’s products that small producers say
will put them out of business with costly testing, even on
materials they say are unlikely to contain lead.) I had a brief
talk with Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the Consumer Product
Safety Commission, yesterday. (He said he had something like 500
messages from reporters, so I appreciate him taking time to
speak with me.) Here are a few points worth highlighting.    •
The CPSC expects to publish four proposed rules on implementing
the law and exemptions in a matter of “days.” The notices about
these rules are on the commission’s site.   • Once the proposed
rules are published, there’s a 30 day comment period. Then the
commission staff, based on comments, drafts the final rule.   •
This won’t be do