CPSC's nod to changing safety act gets HTA thumbs up

By Staff -- Gifts and Dec, January 19, 2010

STAMFORD, Conn.—The Handmade Toy Alliance said on Monday that it was heartened by the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s report to Congress last week that acknowledge the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) will need legislative changes in order to ensure “a more orderly implementation of the statute and enhance Commission enforcement efforts.”

“This is the first concrete, upfront acknowledgement that there are issues hindering the effective implementation of the CPSIA,” Jill Chuckas, owner of Crafty Baby and Secretary of the HTA said. “Still, there were many specific recommendations that we had hoped would be included with the report. We will continue our efforts until we see common sense changes that will allow crafters and other small batch manufacturers to easily show their compliance under the law and stay in business.”

The Handmade Toy Alliance, which has represented the business interests of small batch manufacturers and retailers since November 2008, had called on the CPSC in a letter sent to the commission on January 14 to include within their report to Congress 13 specific recommendations for legislative change that it says “would serve to alleviate burdens the CPSIA places on the businesses the HTA represents while continuing to ensure safety in children’s products.”

“While we greatly appreciate the work the CPSC has done and continues to do – reaching out to our membership and addressing our concerns – a legislative change to the CPSIA is necessary to fully address the many unintended consequences of the CPSIA,” said Dan Marshall, co-owner of Peapods Natural Toys and Vice President of the HTA.

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