The Government Accountability Office is calling on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to take action to strengthen oversight of toxic substances in children’s products.
According to a recent GAO report, the CPSC is responsible for regulating the safety of thousands of consumer products, including children’s products. It requires manufacturers and importers to have certain toys and other children’s products tested by labs for lead and other toxic substances before they can enter the U.S. market. However, the large volume of products entering U.S. ports makes it challenging to ensure compliance.
The CPSC uses risk-based approaches to target children’s products that may contain toxic substances for examination at U.S. ports. For example, it uses U.S. Customs and Border Protection systems that analyze national shipment and law enforcement data to target high-risk products. Examinations include screening products with hand-held devices for lead and other toxic substances and reviewing importer documentation to verify that products were tested by third-party labs and meet CPSC safety standards.
Starting in July, the CPSC will require importers to e-file key data (including product identification and place of testing) when products enter U.S. ports. According to CPSC officials, e-filing may help address challenges such as delays in completing examinations when importers lack lab testing documentation. The report notes, however, that the CPSC has not developed an oversight plan to ensure that importers file timely, accurate data. GAO believes establishing such a plan would help the CPSC ensure that e-filing achieves its intended objectives, such as making targeting more effective and examinations more efficient.
The report adds that, while the CPSC has review processes to verify that third-party labs that test children’s products meet its accreditation and other requirements, it has not proactively analyzed data across all types of labs to assess potential risks, such as inaccurate testing or misreported results. The CPSC recently began analyzing violations data for labs owned by manufacturers to better evaluate their safeguards from undue influence, but, according to GAO, it does not do so for independent or government labs. The report asserts that by better leveraging its violations data for these labs the CPSC would be better positioned to identify and address potential problems associated with all types of labs, which could help prevent violative products from entering the market.
In all, GAO is recommending that the CPSC (1) establish a plan to oversee compliance with e-filing requirements, (2) establish a process for using violations data to assess risks associated with independent and government labs, (3) review its lead requirements and document a process for completing lead reviews every five years, and (4) document a process for staying up-to-date on changes related to phthalates and other toxic substances. GAO indicated that the CPSC agreed with the recommendations and said it would implement them.
Copyright © 2026 Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.; WorldTrade Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved.