The CPSC began a phased invitation schedule on October 28, 2024. This approach allows them to provide dedicated support and guidance to each group of participants as they come on board. This phased rollout is designed to maximize the efficiency and quality of the onboarding process. The CPSC says its staff is committed to providing all participants with a seamless and successful filing experience.
The CPSC will continue to accept registration requests for the eFiling voluntary stage on an ongoing basis. Registration will remain active until the CPSC reaches its maximum capacity of 2,000 importers participating in the eFiling voluntary stage. Please note invitations to establish a Business Account in the Product Registry are being provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Each importer company will receive their invitation based on when they requested access, so if you want to eFile during the voluntary stage, you need to get on the list today.
To receive an invitation to establish a Business Account in the Product Registry, Importers should first confirm they do not already have any current type of Registry account, then email eFilingSupport@cpsc.gov with the following information:
Company Name
Initial Business Account Administrator’s Name
Initial Business Account Administrator’s Email
Importer of Record Number(s)
Broker Filer Code(s)
Types of Products Imported
The importer must create the business accounts. After you get approved, importers can invite additional users from trade partner organizations to collaborate, such as brokers, test laboratories, manufacturers, and service providers like Comply PRO+.
For more information, visit www.cpsc.gov/eFiling to review available training materials and sign up for the mailing list to keep up with the CPSC eFiling rollout.
Once you sign up for the Voluntary Filing, get accepted, and Create your Business Account, choose Comply PRO” as your service provider, and you can start building your data into Comply PRO+. Contact us as an early filer and get 20% off any plan. Once onboard, you can start generating all certificates for a shipment with one click and file your data into the CPSC product registry.
Comply PRO+ was developed for businesses, owners, executives, Amazon sellers, and compliance managers. Designed as brand protection software, our patent-pending PRO Check Audit automatic certificate generation and compliance verification module will never let you ship non-compliant products if you build proper protocols and test your products. Check our pricing page and get started today. Schedule a demo call and get a FREE additional user!
Effective September 30, 2024, Amazon requires you to submit product compliance documents for approval before listing the product. To ensure that the products sold on Amazon are held to the highest standards and are safe for customers to use, you must be able to demonstrate through appropriate compliance documentation that all the products you offer on Amazon meet regulatory and policy requirements. This update does not change existing compliance requirements; your existing product listings will not be impacted. New products will be listed once all required compliance documentation has been submitted and approved. You can do this through the Manage All Inventory dashboard. Customer safety is our top priority, and we may ask for additional information to verify product safety and compliance anytime.
For more information about this change, go to Creating new selection with compliance requirements.
Use Comply PRO+ to build your Compliance program to show Proof of Compliance and automatically generate Children’s Product Certificates and General Certificates of Conformity from a Purchase Order. Manage all compliance documentation, test reports, store instructions, packaging, labels, etc., and manage your other sales channel compliance. Be Ready for the EU General Product Safety Regulation and CPSC eFiling with Comply PRO+.
The Biden-Harris Administration is taking new actions to enforce our laws and protect American consumers, workers, and businesses by addressing the significant increased abuse of the de minimis exemption, in particular China-founded e-commerce platforms, and strengthening efforts to target and block shipments that violate U.S. laws.
Over the last ten years, the number of shipments entering the United States claiming the de minimis exemption has increased significantly, from approximately 140 million a year to over one billion a year. This exponential increase in de minimis shipments makes it more challenging to enforce U.S. trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, and consumer protection rules, and to block illicit synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and synthetic drug raw materials and machinery from entering the country.
The majority of shipments entering the United States claiming the de minimis exemption originate from several China-founded e-commerce platforms, putting American consumers at risk, undercutting American workers and businesses, and resulting in the importation of huge volumes of low-value products such as textiles and apparel into the U.S. market duty-free. A shipment is eligible for the de minimis exemption if the aggregate fair retail value of the articles imported is $800 or less. De minimis shipments enter the United States with less information than other imports and are not subject to duties and taxes.
The growing volume of de minimis shipments makes it increasingly difficult to target and block illegal or unsafe shipments. Foreign corporate giants who exploit the de minimis exemption do so for a variety of reasons. Some companies exploit the de minimis to conceal shipments of illegal and dangerous products and avoid compliance with U.S. health and safety and consumer protection laws. Other foreign entities use it to circumvent U.S. trade enforcement actions intended to level the playing field for American workers, retailers, and manufacturers.
With today’s announcement, the Administration is using executive authority to stop the abuse of the de minimis exemption. The Administration also calls on Congress to pass legislation this year to reform the de minimis exemption comprehensively to further protect American consumers, workers, and businesses.
Administration Action Intended to Reduce De Minimis Import VolumesNew Rulemaking to Reduce De Minimis Volume and Strengthen Trade Enforcement: The Administration intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would exclude from the de minimis exemption all shipments containing products covered by tariffs imposed under Sections 201 or 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, or Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Section 301 tariffs currently cover approximately 40% of U.S. imports, including 70% of textile and apparel imports from China. Some e-commerce platforms and other foreign sellers circumvent these tariffs by shipping items from China to the United States claiming the de minimis exemption. If finalized, these goods would no longer be eligible for the de minimis exemption.
It would also ensure that de minimis exemption eligibility for products covered by trade enforcement actions is consistent across U.S. trade laws. Products covered by antidumping or countervailing duty orders are already excluded from de minimis exemption eligibility.
Administration Action to Protect U.S. Consumers, Workers, and Businesses
New Rulemaking to Improve Accountability and Enforcement in De Minimis Shipments: The Administration intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the entry of low-value shipments that will propose to strengthen information collection requirements to promote greater visibility into de minimis shipments.
This regulatory action will propose to require specific, additional data for de minimis shipments – including the 10-digit tariff classification number and the person claiming the de minimis exemption – which will improve targeting of de minimis shipments and facilitate expedited clearance of lawful de minimis shipments.
The proposed regulatory changes will also clarify who is eligible for the administrative exemption, and requires filers to identify the person on whose behalf the exemption is being claimed.
These new requirements would help U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) protect consumers from goods that do not meet regulatory health and safety standards and protect U.S. businesses from unfair competition against imported goods that would otherwise be charged duties or restricted from entry.
Final Rule to Prevent De Minimis Shipments from Circumventing Safety Standards: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff intend to propose a final rule requiring importers of consumer products to file Certificates of Compliance (CoC) electronically with CBP and CPSC at the time of entry, including for de minimis shipments.
This regulation would strengthen CBP’s and CPSC’s ability to target and block unsafe products from entering the U.S. market and would help prevent foreign companies from using the de minimis exemption to circumvent consumer protection testing and certification requirements.
Read more
Comply PRO+ Plus will be ready to create digital certificates for container and individual shipments when CPSC eFiling goes into law. Schedule a demo today to see how this game-changing software can streamline your compliance activities and save you time and money. Generate Certificates automatically today and be ready when CPSC eFiling is required.
CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance has created a new web-based application that allows any entity with an entry number (brokers, importers, etc.) that has a pending review with CPSC staff to retrieve real-time information on the status of their shipment. If you have been notified your container has been pulled for inspection, You can now check the status here
We encourage using this tool as your first stop for any import-related questions. Please note that the tracker only provides information about the data review and examination conducted by CPSC’s Import Surveillance team and does not include the status for compliance determinations. The new tracking tool can be found at the link here.
For any questions about the tool, please contact CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance at importinquiries@cpsc.gov.
Be sure to reach out to eFilingSupport@cpsc.gov as soon as possible to secure a spot in this initial round of invitations. Invitations will be sent on a first come, first serve basis, and will be limited due to FRN limitations. Once the initial round has reached capacity, CPSC will begin logging registration requests via a waitlist. Regardless, it is highly recommended that importers reach out as soon as possible to initiate their request to gain access to the Product Registry.
To receive an invitation to establish a Business Account in the Product Registry, importers can email eFilingSupport@cpsc.gov with:
Company Name
Initial Business Account Administrator’s Name
Initial Business Account Administrator’s Email
Importer of Record Number(s)
Broker Filer Code(s)
Type of Products Imported
Please note that Business Accounts must be created by the importer since they are the certifying party that maintains responsibility for product certification. Once the importer creates an account, they can invite additional users from trade partner organizations to collaborate.
More information about eFiling and the Product Registry can be found on the CPSC webpage at www.cpsc.gov/eFiling. I specifically recommend reviewing the eFiling SOP to understand the roles and permissions within the Product Registry.
Once you get registered and have an invitation, please sign up for a Comply PRO+ plan to automate your filing once your data is in the system and we have been approved and added as your service provider. We are offering a Free Month and special pricing for early filers so please contact us at letstalk@complyproplus.com to sign up or open a conversation using the chat.
Using the CPC/ GCC Generator, you will be able to generate all the digital certificates on a shipment from a purchase order entry of your products with associated citations once you build your product protocols
Schedule a DEMO today to learn how Comply PRO+ can streamline your compliance-related activities. Use the schedule demo on this site and get a Free extra user when you sign up for any regular or custom plan.
Target continues to evolve its Product Quality, Safety, and Regulatory (PSQR) program. Beginning February 1, 2024, there will be a change to how Quality Program Assessments (QPA) are processed. The Vendor Compliance Assessment Tool (VCAT) will now be initiated and processed by a third-party partner, Bureau Veritas (BV), as a replacement for the QPA.
The purpose of these assessments is to evaluate a business partner’s understanding and ability to execute safety and regulatory requirements. It is part of Target’s due care process required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to create confidence that manufacturers’ procedures establish the ability to be complete with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) rules before Target imports goods. It is also critical that business partners have documented processes implemented and that production documents are maintained to show that the business partner follows a structured quality and testing process throughout manufacturing. This assessment is required to obtain and maintain an import vendor ID number.
Affected Parties:
Non-food & beverage Target Owned Brand and National Brand Vendors who have import vendor IDs
Description of Change/Update:
As the transition occurs from Target PSQR engineer-driven review to 3rd party review, please note the following: BV will prioritize new import business partners and then begin working through renewal assessments for existing import business partners. Assessments will be required every two years. There will be an associated cost with the assessment ranging from $225 to $425, depending on the product categories produced. Additional Corrective Action Preventative Action (CAPA) plans after two will require an extra fee of $50 per CAPA. Initially, VCAT assessments will be processed via Excel/email before uploading to the BV platform. At a future date, all steps will be completed within the BV platform.The assessment will look and feel different for business partners who have completed the QPA. However, the intent of the assessment remains unchanged and focused on CPSC regulation and compliance.
BV will prioritize new import business partners. VCAT is required for all import business partners.POL and Target’s Vendor Process manual will soon be updated to outline the process flow. When completing assessments with BV, remember that they should be completed from a business partner/vendor perspective, not a single factory. All documentation provided to BV must be in English.
Companies who implement Comply PRO+ can instantly show due care to both the CPSC and Retailers as the framework is CPSIA-ready. Companies just have to implement their Product Safety and Quality processes and provide team members access to conduct compliance-related activities. Book a Demo today to see how you can soon create CPC and GCC Certificates from a Purchase Order using the CPC/GCC Generator.
