In 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush.  This law imposed new compliance requirements on manufacturers and importers of consumer fireworks.

The law requires all consumer fireworks products manufactured after February 10, 2010, to be certified for conformity with applicable CPSC rules, standards, and bans (also referred to as a “General Conformity Certification” or GCC).

Who Must Certify Conformity?

The law requires every manufacturer, importer and private labeler of consumer fireworks to certify their products conform with all applicable CPSC fireworks safety standards and bans. The importer must issue the GCC for products manufactured outside the U.S. and the U.S. manufacturer must issue the GCC for domestically produced products.

It is important to note that the importer or U.S. manufacturer of a product requiring a GCC is ALWAYS legally responsible for issuing a GCC, even if the foreign manufacturer, test laboratory, or other third-party helps to draft the GCC.

What Testing is Required?

GCCs must be based upon a reasonable product testing program. The CPSC defines “reasonable testing program” as a program that provides reasonable assurance of compliance with the CPSC regulations and that is stringent enough to detect variations that could cause the items to fail.

Testing that serves as the basis for certifying products does not have to be provided by a third party, but in fact may be based on a company’s own testing, provided that the testing program is adequately designed, properly implemented, and the program and test results are well documented. Many find the use of third party testing organizations, like the AFSL, helps to avoid concerns about whether or not their testing program is “reasonable.”

AFSL’s testing program meets the CPSC’s requirements for such certifications.

What about the Form and Content of the Certification?

The law does not specify the form the certification must take. As a result, certifications may take the form of a product label, an attachment on the shipping container, a separate document, or a section of another document such as an invoice, bill, statement, or bill of lading.

Regardless of the form, a certification must include the following information:

• Identity of the product covered by the certificate.
• Citation to the CPSC regulation(s) or ban(s) to which the product is being certified.
• Identity of the U.S. manufacturer, private labeler, or importer certifying compliance.
• Name, full mailing address, and telephone number are required.
• Contact information for the individual maintaining the test records on which the certification is based.
  • Name, full mailing address, and telephone number are required.
• Date and place of product manufacture.
  • Date and place where the product was tested for conformity with the regulation(s) or ban(s) cited above.
• Identity of any third-party laboratory that performed the testing on which the certification is based.
• Name, full mailing address and telephone number are required.

A signature is not required on the certification.

Who Receives the Certifications?

The GCC must “accompany” each shipment of the product. Shipments containing multiple products must have a separate certification for each product.

To facilitate faster entry through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, the certifications may be provided with the shipping documents that accompany the import shipment. In addition, copies of the certifications must be furnished to every distributor and retailer of the product.

This requirement is satisfied if the distributor and retailer are provided reasonable means to access the GCC, either by providing a hard copy with each shipment or electronically through a dedicated website URL that is provided on the invoice. There is no requirement to provide consumers or the final purchasers of a product with the certification. Also, federal law requires you to provide copies of the certification to the CPSC or to CBP, upon request.

What are the Potential Civil Penalties?

Violations of the certification and reporting requirements may subject a company to civil penalties of more than $16 million. Such violations include failure to furnish a certification, issuance of a false certification, and failure to report noncompliant products in a timely manner.

AFSL’s Certificate of Compliance database launched in 2010. AFSL provides database access to CPSC, which allows select agency personnel to review all certificates filed by AFSL members using the database, thus avoiding the need for the Compliance Officer to contact the member for copies of the GCCs.