Washington's enforcement guidelines for lead, cadmium and phthalates

Washington’s Department of Ecology has issued a guidance document, clarifying the enforcement of lead, cadmium and phthalates limits under its Children’s Safe Products Act (CSPA) on 12 Feb. 2016.
 
According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, “the guidance serves as notice that the Department of Ecology intends to begin enforcing the applicable state standards” for those products not already covered by federal rules.
 
The CSPA limits the use of lead, cadmium and phthalates in children’s products. However, the adoption of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in 2008 largely preempted the state’s rule, as it imposed its own limits on the three substances.
 
But the Washington CSPA has a broader definition of “children’s products” than covered by the CPSIA, and the state therefore has the authority to regulate those products that fall outside of the federal rule’s scope.
 
According to the guidance, product-chemical combinations that Washington may enforce include:
l  a 40 parts per million (ppm), by weight, limitation on cadmium in clothing, footwear,
l  jewellery, childcare articles and cosmetics (as compared to a federal 75ppm cadmium limit in surface-coating or accessible substrate of toys); phthalates in clothing, footwear and cosmetics, which are limited to 0.10% by product weight (individually or combined); and
l  lead in children’s car seats, which is not to exceed 90ppm.
Washington’s limits are “generally more stringent” than those in the CPSIA, according to the Department of Ecology.
 
Separately, the state’s next reporting deadline, under the Children’s Safe Products reporting rule, is 29 February. This applies to manufacturers, which first reported to the state in February 2013.