U.S. – Vermont Amends the Children’s Products Reporting Rule

Vol. 1185 | 08 Sep 2020

The Vermont Department of Health’s Chemicals of High Concern in Children’s Products Reporting Rule requires manufacturers of children’s products to disclose the presence of any intentionally added chemicals of concern above the practical quantification limit (PQL) or above 100ppm, when present as a contaminant.

As defined in the Rule, “child” or “children” refers to an individual or individuals under 12 years of age. Children’s product means any consumer product marketed for use by, marketed to, sold, offered for sale, or distributed to children in the state of Vermont, including toys; children’s cosmetics; children’s jewelry; a product designed or intended by the manufacturer to help a child with sucking or teething, to facilitate sleep, relaxation, or the feeding of a child, or to be worn as clothing by children; and child car seats. Products exempted from the scope of this rule are: packaging of the children’s products within scope, food, beverage, tobacco products, pesticides, drugs, ammunition, aircraft, motor vehicles, vessels, consumer electronics products, interactive software, snow sporting equipment and used products.

The Department of Health proposed amendments to the rule in November 2019. Listed below are the approved amendments to this rule:

1. Definition of ‘formaldehyde’ expanded to include “formaldehyde donors” that are substances intentionally added to products to release formaldehyde, including
   1. 5-Bromo-5-nitro-1,3-dioxane
   2. Bronopol
   3. Diazolidinyl urea
   4. DMDM hydantoin
   5. Imidazolidinyl urea
   6. Methanol, (phenylmethoxy)
   7. Methenamine
   8. Quaternium-15
   9. Sodium N-(hydroxymethyl)glycinate
2. Reporting requirements and deadlines revised:
   1. Annual reporting deadline changed from August 31 to January 31 of every calendar year, starting 2022. The reporting deadline for 2020 was August 31^st and the next annual reporting deadline will be Jan 31, 2022 as a result of this change.
   2. July 31 marked as the mid-year reporting deadline for children’s products introduced into commerce after the January 31 reporting date. So, products introduced for sale after January 31^st but before July 31^st, would require reporting by July 31^st. If products are introduced for sale after the July 31^st deadline, the products can be reported with the annual report by the following January 31^st.

The amended regulation can be viewed at: https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/CHCCP%20Rule.Final%20Adopted.July%202020.pdf  

For questions, please contact Laxmi Ravikumar (laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com, +1-630-209-9265) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com, +1-847-212-8273).