Children's Books Exempt from Safety Law

The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act of 2008, CPSIA, has been amended to exempt "ordinary" children's books from third party product testing. The measure, H.R. 2715, was signed into law by President Obama on August 12, after being passed almost unanimously by both houses of congress.

The 2008 measure was originally passed primarily to protect children under 12 from exposure to lead in products designed for their use. The printing and publishing industry argued that paper and board products used to make books have never contained lead. Books have never been regulated and have never posed a safety hazard according to the industry. Libraries had also awaited the outcome of the revision, since the original law cast a shadow on their ability to lend children's books. The new law applies the requirements only to products manufactured since the original law went into effect. This effectively eliminates libraries’ concerns about lending older books. A stay of enforcement of the 2008 law had been in effect and, barring congressional action, would have expired in December of this year.

The amended law excludes "ordinary" books from third party testing and certification procedures. But it leaves testing in place for "novelty" books that contain materials other than paper and board or are printed on materials other than paper and board. So books with plastic, toy-like elements will still require testing.