Printing Industries Urges the CPSC to Exempt Children’s Books and Printed Material
Printers have been caught up in government red tape that was never intended to regulate printed material. New regulations meant to keep children's toys safe from dangerous chemicals will also apply to books and other printed material, resulting in the delay of shipments and enormous testing costs for printers. Although the statutory deadline to comply with the new testing requirements is February 10, 2009, most retailers and other print customers are already requiring certificates verifying test results, prior to the issuance of testing guidance from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Printing Industries is working with industry allies the Association of American Publishers, Book Manufacturers Institute, Magazine Publishers Association and others to exempt ordinary books and printed material from the new law. TAKE ACTION NOW or read on for more information about the potential harm to the printing industry and advocacy efforts both on Capitol Hill and at the CPSC.

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA)

A number of high profile toy recalls due to lead exposure led Congress to pass the CPSIA. Late in the 110th Congress, the President signed the bill which greatly expands the authority of the CPSC to regulate the content limits of lead and phthalates (e.g. plasticizers that could be found in inks, coatings, and adhesives) in consumer products designed or intended primarily for children age 12 or under. Beginning, February 10, 2009, the CPSIA bans the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any children's product, including any existing product in inventory, that contains more than 600 parts per million by weight (ppmw) total lead content. The CPSIA lowers the total lead content for children's products in August 2009 and possibly again in August 2011. In addition, under the CPSIA, phthalates testing requirements apply to ordinary books intended for children 12 or younger if such books have "some inherent play value and constitute toys or have toy like features."

CPSC Requires Testing of Ordinary Books and Printed Material

Late in 2008, the Printing Industries learned that the CPSC intended to include books in the definition of "children's products" that would need to be certified as safe and even worse, that many retailers were enforcing the new requirements prior to the implementation date. This concern was heightened by a letter from the General Counsel of the CPSC - a letter that states that ordinary books and printed materials are not exempt from the law. Despite the submission of industry data that demonstrates the amount of lead, heavy metals, and phthalates in printed material are well below the new CPSIA thresholds, the CPSC maintained that "it does not have sufficient data on the total lead content of [ordinary books and other printed materials] to issue...an exemption."

While the CPSC seems receptive to considering an exemption for books and other printed matter, it has not clearly articulated the level of proof that is necessary to demonstrate no threat or harm to children is posed by ordinary books and other printed matter. Unless provided an exemption, beginning February 10, 2009, printers and publishers of ordinary books and other printed materials will be forced to test their products.

Potential Costs to the Industry

With tests costing approximately $300 to $500 per product and in some cases up to $1,000 or more for specialty books, without an exemption, the testing costs for printers will be astronomical. Questions remain about how many products from a particular press run, batch or lot will have to be tested. Since many printers publish hundreds of titles they may have to test each separate book, even if the raw materials were identical across an entire line of books. The cost to test for total lead content and phthalates in products could escalate into millions of dollars per printer.

Labs equipped to test products are already experiencing a backlog which could mean further costs and delays for printers. Under the CPSIA, products can not ship until the test requirements are certified. Currently there is a four to six week delay for results and after February 10th this delay is likely to increase significantly. As printers have moved to "just in time" inventory methods, books have been printed in smaller batches and storage space has been reduced. Many printers cannot afford and are not equipped to store books at warehouses as they wait for lab results. This delay in shipping products will result in a lack of business, only worsening the impacts of the current economic recession.

Further, the CPSC will not issue laboratory accreditation standards until at least May 2009, months after the implementation deadline. This leaves printers and publishers in a catch 22 where they may have to test products both immediately to meet the demands of customers in order to be in compliance and again later in the year when the official procedures have been established. Essentially, the testing costs and delays will be doubled, adding up to millions of dollars in unnecessary-added expenses.

Printing Industries Takes Action

In early December, Printing Industries signed onto a joint letter with the Association of American Publishers (AAP), requesting an advisory opinion to exclude ordinary books and other printed materials from the new requirements. The CPSC has the authority to exempt products from the new regulatory requirements. Starting last year, the printing, publishing and book industry created a website to upload testing data to demonstrate to the CPSC that ordinary books and printed material contain minimal amounts of lead or phthalates, if any at all.

Unfortunately, the CPSC maintained that books marketed to children age 12 and under would be subject to the new testing requirements and rules. Despite the data provided, CPSC maintained that "it does not have sufficient data on the total lead content of [ordinary books and other printed materials] to issue...an exemption." The submission of additional data continues and the industry is told the CPSC will soon issue additional letters further addressing our concerns and providing further clarification on several key questions regarding testing and what to do with existing products in inventory.

Last week, the Printing Industries' Government Affairs team and Gary Jones, Printing Industries Director of Environmental, Health, and Safety Affairs, met with legislators on the committees that implemented the CPSIA and that oversee the CPSC. Many leaned a sympathetic ear and offered to contact the CPSC on behalf of the printing industry. The Printing Industries will continue this dialogue with Members of Congress and their staff in order to urge the CPSC to take swift action.

Next week, Printing Industries and its allies will meet with CPSC General Counsel Cheryl Falvey and the lead testing team. Printing Industries will make the case that ordinary books should be exempt after providing sufficient data proving printed materials continue to be safe, as they have been historically.

Printing Industries will continue to advocate for the CPSC to authorize an exemption or at the least, a conditional delay of the February 10 implementation deadline for books and other printed matter. Absent of an exemption, Printing Industries will press for swift Congressional action to modify or delay the requirements and clarify certain aspects of the new law.

Printing Industries will continue to pursue the appropriate channels to remedy this situation and will keep you updated through imPRINT and printing.org. On the website's legislative issue section, simply click on the Environmental and Energy tab to find a new page dedicated to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

What Can Printers Do?

Use Printing Industries' online Action Alert to customize and send an e-fax to legislators and the CPSC urging them to consider the impacts of the CPSIA, including the delay of shipments and enormous testing costs for printers. Adding personalized information about your business will give your message the added power needed to impact the decision of your lawmakers and regulators. Encourage lawmakers to urge the CPSC to issue a determination that ordinary books and other non-book, paper-based printed materials do not contain lead or phthalates at levels above the statutory limits of the CPSIA, thereby relieving these products from the testing requirements of § 102, §103, and §105 of the Act. Urge Capitol Hill and the CPSC to take swift action, and most importantly, prior to the February 10th, 2009 implementation date.