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Safety certification mandatory for exports to US
Exporters to the US market will have to produce certificates to the effect that the products are safe and not harmful to children and adult consumers.
The requirement will take effect on November 12, an official from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said here Monday.
Richard W. O’Brien, the commission’s director of Office of International Programs and Intergovernmental Affairs, said President Bush had signed a sweeping revision of consumer product safety laws on August 14, 2008.
The US Congress had approved in early August a bill that will revamp the nation’s consumer product safety net. The legislation reforms the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to enable the agency to better enforce safety standards in a market dominated by cheap imports and requires new standards for dangerous substances like lead and phthalates.
O’Brien said manufacturers and importers will announce their voluntary and mandatory standards, which must be certified by independent third parties through a test of each product or a reasonable testing program. The parties must be approved by the commission.
The certificates should accompany the products on shipments and be submitted to the commission and US customs on request, he said.
In the case of violations, the US government will order the products destroyed and manufacturers and/or importers will face civil and criminal penalties.
The commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters; and household chemicals that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard.
Death, injuries and property damage from consumer product accidents cost the US more than US$800 billion annually, said the commission.
Laurie A. Hopkins, the office’s international programs coordinator, said the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act focuses on products for children 12 years of age or younger.
The act permanently bans from February 10, 2009 any children’s products containing more than 0.1 percent of three specific types of phthalates 2-ethylhexyl (DEHP), dibutyl (DBP) and benzyl butyl (BBP). Phthalates are plasticizers, the chemicals that make PVS and plastics pliable.
The act will also set a general ban on lead by requiring the commission to set a standard of 0.01 percent within three years and tighten federal standards on lead content in paint to 0.009 percent from the current 0.06.
Huynh Thi My Loan, head of Artex Saigon Handicraft Company’s Export Department, said the new regulations are not difficult for Vietnamese exporters to meet. However, the regulations should be announced earlier so exporters have more time to ensure that their products comply with the provisions of the act.
The US is Vietnam’s biggest export market with last year’s exports totaling $10.2 billion. This is expected to increase to $13 billion, this year. The market consumes textiles, leather shoes, handicrafts, furniture, and seafood, and some of these products will have to conform to the regulations about lead content.
Nguyen The Hung, deputy director of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in HCMC, said the regulations may cause some confusion and consternation among Vietnamese exporters who will find it difficult to access authorized laboratories in Vietnam.
Hung said the ministry of Science and Technology had a meeting with the commission’s officials in early September to figure out ways to assist local exporters in obtaining the certificates for their shipment.
Failure to do so means the goods will be stuck at US customs, he said.
Thanhnien
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