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The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)’s e-filing mandate has taken effect, requiring importers of regulated consumer products to electronically submit "certificate of compliance" data to the agency.
The requirement took effect on 8 July and affects companies that import products subject to CPSC safety standards, including rules covering hazardous substances, flammability and limits on heavy metals and phthalates in children’s products.
The e-filing requirement creates no new testing or certification obligations and does not apply to domestic manufacturers, acting chair Peter Feldman said in a CPSC statement.
"Importers are already required by law to create and maintain this information," he said. "E-filing simply modernises how the data is transmitted to CPSC."
According to Feldman, the electronic system will improve the CPSC’s surveillance capability, "enabling the agency to identify and interdict high-risk shipments earlier, keeping unsafe foreign-made products out of American homes and levelling the playing field for American manufacturers and importers that follow the rules".
The agency described the implementation as one of the most significant modernisation efforts in the CPSC’s import surveillance programme since the agency was established.
Data to be filed electronically includes product identification, the certifying party, applicable CPSC rules, manufacturing date and location, most recent testing date and location, and contact information for the person maintaining test records.
The CPSC finalised the rule in December 2024 after more than a decade of development. It recently shared resources to help companies understand their obligations.
Importers of products from foreign-trade zones (FTZs) have an additional six months, or until 8 January 2027, to comply.