The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 is a United States law signed on August 14, 2008 by President George W. Bush. The legislative bill was known as HR 4040, sponsored by Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). On December 19, 2007, the U.S. House approved the bill 407-0. On March 6, 2008, the U.S. Senate approved the bill 79-13. The law—public law 110-314—increases the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), imposes new testing and documentation requirements, and sets new acceptable levels of several substances. It imposes new requirements on manufacturers of apparel, shoes, personal care products, accessories and jewelry, home furnishings, bedding, toys, electronics and video games, books, school supplies, educational materials and science kits. The Act also increases fines and specifies jail time for some violations.
This act is seen in part controversial because of its impact to many types of businesses that did not cause the problem. Because of the wide-sweeping nature of the law, many small resellers will be forced to discontinue the sale of children’s products and are in risk of losing (and in some cases have already lost) their business.
A previous, less sweeping bill, the Lead-Free Toys Act (H.R. 3473, sponsored by Representative Henry Waxman), was incorporated into this act. The earlier bill was prompted by various scandals over high lead content in toys, including a December 2006 report at Waxman's behest showing high lead levels in items sold in U.S. Capitol gift shops.
Read more about Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act: Budget Authorization, Targeted Industries, Definition of A Children's Product, Whistleblower Protections, Penalties, Criticism, See Also
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