U.S. – CPSC Approves Final Rule for Infant Sleep Products

Vol. 1249 | 09 Jun 2021

Update: The rule has been published in the Federal Register dated June 23rd, 2021, and will come in to effect June 23rd, 2022, 12 months from date of publication in the Federal Register.

On June 2, 2021, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), approved a new federal regulation: 16 CFR 1236 Safety Standard for Infant Sleep Products, as part of the rulemaking process required by the Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA).

The federal rule, originally proposed in 2017, has undergone significant changes to address incidents and information gathered since. With the final rule, the CPSC adopts the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) as written and adopts the ASTM standard F3118–17a Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant Inclined Sleep Products, with modifications.

Infant sleep products, as defined in the rule are “products marketed or intended to provide a sleeping accommodation for an infant up to 5 months of age, and that is not already subject to one of the mandatory CPSC sleep standards: full-size cribs, non-full-size cribs, play yards, bassinets, cradles, or bed-side sleepers.”

The 16 CFR 1236 is intended to cover infant sleep products up to 5 months of age. Accordingly, the scope of the infant sleep products standard includes a multitude of sleep products currently unregulated, including travel bassinets, baby tents, baby nests and pods, in-bed sleepers, frame-type, hammocks, compact, and accessory sleep products not covered by other ASTM children’s sleep products standards such as:

• 16 CFR part 1218 Safety Standard for Bassinets and Cradles
• 16 CFR part 1219 Safety Standard for Full-Size Baby Cribs
• 16 CFR part 1220 Safety Standard for Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs
• 16 CFR part 1221 Safety Standard for Play Yards
• 16 CFR part 1222 Safety Standard for Bedside Sleepers

Key aspects of the rule are:

• Clarification of scope to include a variety of infant sleep products, both inclined and flat sleep surfaces, not already covered by a federal rule.
• Restriction of the seat angle to 10 degrees and lesser from the horizontal.
• Requiring products to comply with the 16 CFR 1218 mandatory safety standard for bassinets and cradles.
• Except for the seat back angle measurement requirement, the rule does not require compliance to the general requirements, performance requirements, test specifications or marking and labeling sections of the ASTM F3118-17a standard.

Yet to be officially published, this CPSC rule becomes effective 12 months after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The rule will be applicable to all products manufactured and imported on or after the effective date. Infant sleep products manufactured on and after this date shall meet the 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) as well as registration cards according to the 16 CFR 1130 Requirements for consumer registration of durable infant or toddler products.

The final rule can be viewed at: Decisional Vote Sheet Infant Sleep Product Final Rule (cpsc.gov)

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