No Word on Book Exemption as CPSIA Deadline Nears

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By Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 1/29/2009

The clock is ticking toward February 10—now less than two weeks away—when lead testing becomes required for children’s products under the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Still no word on an exemption for books.

As expected, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a letter to the Association of American Publishers this week that detailed further information and test results needed in order for the CPSC to make a determination about whether traditional ink-on-paper and ink-on-board books will be exempted from the Act’s requirements. The letter was in response to a public meeting at the CPSC the previous week, at which the five largest children’s book publishers and three largest printers, as well as the Association of American Publishers, made presentations. A digital video of the meeting can be viewed on the CPSIA Web site.

Meanwhile, the industry continues to lobby Congress and the CPSC. The American Library Association encouraged its members to contact the two CPSC commissioners, Acting Chair Nancy Nord and Commissioner Thomas Moore, who were inundated with calls, according to a story in Library Journal. The CPSC General Counsel has said the Commission would issue a statement interpreting the impact of the Act on schools and libraries—separate from any statements about books as a whole—possibly in the first week of February. The Act is retroactive, meaning that testing would be mandated for all books on store shelves and in libraries and schools, even if manufactured or shipped prior to February 10.

Click here to read PW’s original story about the CPSIA, and here and here for subsequent updates.