U.S. – CPSC Delays adoption of ASTM F2050-19 for Hand-Held Infant Carriers in Direct Final Rule

Vol. 1179 | 11 Aug 2020

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) approved the new ASTM F2050-19 to be incorporated in the federal regulation 16 CFR 1225 – Safety Standard for Hand-Held Infant Carriers in a direct final rule (DFR) on May 20, 2020.

The DFR set an effective date of August 3, 2020, for the new version of the ASTM F2050 standard. Following comments received on the DFR, the CPSC is now revising the effective date and delaying adoption of the F2050-19 as the mandatory safety standard for hand-held infant carriers to January 1, 2021. This delay is in view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, which could cause difficulty for manufacturers in adopting the standard, printing new instructions, disposing of existing inventory, etc.

CPSC staff assessment has concluded that such a delay will not adversely affect the safety of hand-held infant carriers.

The ASTM F2050-19 is the second revision to the standard since the commission adopted ASTM F2050-13a in the original rule. The CPSC ruled that the revisions from the ASTM F2050-13a to the ASTM F2050-19 version have been neutral or improve the safety of hand-held infant carriers and hence adopted the F2050-19 in a direct final rule.

The significant revisions from the ASTM F2050-13a to the ASTM F2050-19 version of the standard are:

• The definition of hand-held infant carriers revised to incorporate the term ‘semi-rigid’, thereby aligning with the original 16 CFR 1225, which adopted the F2050-13a standard in entirety with this one modification.
• Hand-held bassinets/cradles are exempt from the requirement to display a “NEVER leave child unattended” warning message.
• New warning icon and statement added to address falls from shopping carts required in the instructional brochures for carriers.

The revised ASTM F2050-19 standard becomes the mandatory safety standard for hand-held infant carriers effective January 1, 2021. Hand-held infant carriers manufactured on and after this date shall meet requirements of this rule and additionally will also require certification per 16 CFR 1110 based on testing at a CPSC-approved third-party accreditation body (third-party lab) per ASTM F2050-19 standard.

The Final Rule on delay of effective date can be viewed at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-07-31/pdf/2020-16137.pdf

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