CPSC Adopts New Safety Standard for Coin Batteries, Products Containing Them
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is setting a new mandatory safety standard for button cell or coin batteries, as well as consumer products that contain them, it said in a direct final rule published Sept. 21. The commission is adopting an existing voluntary industry standard, ANSI/UL 4200A, as mandatory, rather than moving forward with a proposed standard released in February (see 2302080054).
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Under Reese’s Law, enacted by Congress in August 2022, CPSC was either supposed to adopt a voluntary standard if it found it met the law’s requirements, or create a new standard if none did. CPSC said that, while no voluntary standard met the law’s performance and labeling requirements in February, the latest version of ANSI/UL 4200A published in August satisfies most of the conditions set by Reese’s Law.
The direct final rule will take effect Oct. 23, unless CPSC receives adverse comment by Oct. 5. Should the new standard take effect, third-party testing and certification of children’s products subject to the rule will be required “on or after” Dec. 20. In “recognition of limited testing availability and for the avoidance of hardship,” CPSC will give consumer products button cell or coin batteries a grace period until March 19, 2024, before they must comply with the new standard, the commission said.
For the few warning label and packaging requirements that aren’t met by the voluntary standard CPSC is adopting as mandatory, CPSC published a separate final rule in the Sept. 21 Federal Register. Compliance with that final rule is required for consumer products manufactured or imported after Sept. 21, 2024.