cpsc saga continues...

As anyone reading this knows by now, panic is spreading like wildfire throughout the Etsy community in regards to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that goes into effect February 10, 2009. As it has been explained to me, it will be illegal to sell any products that may be used by children without a government approved safety test and certificate for every single item.

Fortunately, we have legal council in the family so I solicited some advice. I'm still not entirely clear as to what the fate of zuzu girl handmade will be come February but the little information that I did receive is definitely worth sharing...

Apparently there is still some question as to how direct to consumer goods will be handled as opposed to manufactured goods. These are the two responses I received. It's an email conversation between two different, extremely qualified trade lawyers. Clearly, there is still room for discovery even from these professional points of view so I'm not having any fire sales just yet...

Laywer One: "Looking at the Act, it would appear that these folks (meaning etsy artisans) would be subject to its provisions. These are consumer products and they cross interstate lines. There is no de minimus test here on value. This having been said, can they rely on the testing that would have been done by the retailers from whom they purchase their supplies. I am not quite sure how the CPSC would deal with this."

Response from Lawyer Two: "The CPSIA conformity certificate only applies to importers and domestic manufacturers. It appears her business does neither, so she would not be required to certify anything. Moreover, the importers and domestic manufacturers are required to “furnish” the certificate to retailers and distributors, not to ultimate consumers. It appears that these businesses sell to individual consumers, so they would not have to “furnish’ a certificate either."

I'll publish more as I get it in case you are interested in this point of view...