CPSC Denies Exemption Request for Lead in Children’s Bicycles but May Stay Enforcement

On Tuesday, May 12, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to deny the request for an exemption for bicycles from the CPSIA lead substrate requirement, and directed the staff to prepare a briefing package for a stay of enforcement.  (See here) In announcing the decision, Acting Chairman Nancy Nord said that the Commission is mindful that, as with ATVs (for which a stay of enforcement was recently granted until May 2011), some amount of lead is necessary in bikes for structural integrity.   A denial of the petition for an exemption was all but a certainty based upon CPSC’s finding earlier this year that, under the CPSIA, exemptions from the lead substrate requirement cannot be granted if a product or substance exposes children to any lead at all, no matter how little.

- Eric Rubel