U.S. – CPSC Approves ASTM F1169-19 for Full-Size Baby Cribs in Direct Final Rule

Vol. 1093 | 30 Jul 2019

As part of the rulemaking process required by Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), through a direct final rule, has approved the new ASTM F1169-19 to be incorporated in the federal regulation: 16 CFR 1219 – Safety Standard for Full-Size Baby Cribs.

The 16 CFR 1219 safety standard, as originally approved, incorporated by reference the ASTM F1169-10 standard for full-size baby cribs. Since the promulgation of the rule, the ASTM F1169 standard has gone through multiple revisions in arriving at the current ASTM F1169-19 version. The CPSC in its review of the various revisions to the standard has concluded that all the changes thus far have clarified the standard without reducing its effectiveness.

The significant revision to the ASTM F1169-19 version of the standard requires that all warning labels be affixed to the product. This revision is intended to clarify that all warning messages, including those for falls and strangulation and not just higher-priority warnings addressing hazards such as suffocation, shall be affixed on the crib. The CPSC concludes that this change provides clarity to manufacturers since on-product warnings will stay on through multiple users whereas those in instruction manuals, etc., can be easily lost or discarded.

The revised ASTM F1169-19 standard will become the mandatory Safety Standard for Full-size baby cribs effective October 28, 2019, unless the CPSC receives any significant adverse comments by August 22, 2019.

Full-size cribs manufactured on and after this date shall meet requirements of this rule. In addition, the full-size cribs manufactured on and after this date will also require certification per 16 CFR 1110 based on testing at a CPSC-approved third party accreditation body (third party lab) for the revised 16 CFR 1219.

The Final Rule can be reviewed at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-07-23/pdf/2019-15601.pdf

For questions, please contact Laxmi Ravikumar (laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com, +1-630-209-9265).