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Children's Product Certificate

Children’s products, a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger, that are subject to a consumer product safety rule, or a similar ban, standard, or regulation under any other CPSC-enforced statute (children’s product safety rules), require third-party testing and certification. Section 14 of the CPSA, as codified in 16 CFR part 1110, requires domestic manufacturers and importers of children’s products to certify in a written Children’s Product Certificate (CPC), based on test results from a third-party, CPSC-accepted laboratory, that their children’s product(s) comply with applicable children’s product safety rules. The CPC and supporting test reports must be in English. The list of children’s product safety rules to which children’s products must be third-party tested and then cited on a CPC is found here.

We provide illustrative examples of a CPC for a children’s toy, an article of clothing, and a bassinet. These examples are not intended to capture every possible safety rule applicable to a children’s product. No specific template or format need be followed when generating a certificate as long as the 7 required elements (see below) are present and accurate.

In some instances, the finished consumer product may not require third-party testing due to exemptions or exceptions within a regulation, and/or is subject to a determination that certain products do not require testing (such as a children’s blanket). Where a product is subject to exemptions or exceptions within a regulation, manufacturers and importers must still create and issue a CPC, citing all applicable regulations, and listing the exception or exemption claimed, instead of listing a third-party laboratory, for those products that were not tested. CPSC has also issued determinations stating that products with certain characteristics may not require testing and/or certification. Our helpful video demonstrates this kind of example CPC. Also, we provide an example CPC for a blanket to explain how such products must be certified.

Note: Domestic manufacturers and importers of certain general-use products are subject to different testing and certification requirements. For more information certification of general-use products, visit our General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) business guidance page.

Elements Required in a CPC

  1. Identification of the product covered by this certificate
    Describe the product(s) covered by this certification in enough detail to match the certificate to each product it covers and no others.
  2. Citation to each CPSC children’s product safety rule to which this product is being certified
    The certificate must identify each applicable children’s product safety rule (see link above). If an exemption/determination applies that makes testing to a particular safety rule unnecessary, the citation for the children's product safety rule must still be listed in this section; the citation for the exemption/determination may be included under element 6.
  3. Identification of the domestic manufacturer or importer certifying compliance of the product
    Provide the name, full mailing address, and telephone number of the firm.
  4. Contact information for the individual maintaining records of test results
    Provide the name, full mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number of the person maintaining test records in support of the certification. The person does not need to be from the firm identified in element 3, but it is the responsibility of the firm identified in element 3 to facilitate the provision of test reports when requested.
  5. Date and place of manufacture
    For the date(s) of manufacture, provide at least the month and year (or starting month and year for a continuous batch). For the place of manufacture, provide at least the city (or administrative region), state (if applicable), and country where the product was manufactured (finished product assembly). If the same manufacturer operates more than one location in the same city, provide the street address of the factory.
  6. Date(s) and place(s) of testing
    Provide the date(s) of the test(s) or test report(s) and location(s) of testing. Citations for exemptions/determinations may be included here.
  7. Identification of any third-party, CPSC-accepted laboratory who conducted the testing
    Provide at least the name, full mailing address, and telephone number. Registered small batch manufacturers who are not required to third-party test their product to certain children’s product safety requirements must include the registration number provided by the CPSC in this section of the CPC.

Additional information

Contact

For more information, please contact the Small Business Ombudsman (SBO) team:

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