The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that it will hold a meeting on February 2, 2012 to discuss the new ASTM F963-11 toy standard. Changes made to the standard from the 2008 version include revisions to the section on heavy metals (e.g. cadmium), the introduction of compositing procedures, and new safety requirements and technical guidance for bath toy projections, acoustics and other potential safety hazards in toys. CPSC must decide within 180 days from its receipt of ASTM’s notification whether it will accept and replace the 2008 standard with ASTM F963-11 as federal law.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has announced that the two "commercial availability" requests it received under the DR-CAFTA, on behalf of Hansoll Textile Ltd., for certain heather color and solid color 100% polyester circular knit three end fleece fabrics have been withdrawn.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for January 23-24, 2012:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will vote on its infant swings proposed rule on February 2, 2012. The proposed rule would establish a mandatory consumer product safety standard based on the voluntary standard ASTM F2088-11b, “Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Infant Swings” with certain additions, modifications, and clarifications. The Commission staff will also brief the Commission on the ASTM F'963 '11 toy standard and the status of compliance matters. A live webcast of the meeting can be viewed here.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing a rule to require child-resistant (CR) packaging for any over-the-counter or prescription product containing the equivalent of 0.08 milligrams or more of an imidazoline in a single package. Imidazolines are a class of drugs that includes tetrahydrozoline, naphazoline, oxymetazoline, and xylometazoline, which are vasoconstrictors indicated for nasal congestion and/or ophthalmic irritation. CPSC states products containing imidazolines can cause serious adverse reactions, such as central nervous system depression, decreased heart rate, and depressed ventilation in children treated with these drugs or who accidentally ingest them. CPSC preliminarily finds that special packaging is required to protect children under 5 years old from serious personal injury or illness due to handling, using, or ingesting such a substance. Comments are due on or about April 16, 2012.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has released Chairman Tenenbaum's keynote address at the January 11, 2012 Hong Kong Toys Industry Conference. During her remarks, Tenenbaum stated that while toy safety has made progress in Asia and the U.S. in 2011, the toy industry still has more work to do. She discussed her expectations of the toy industry in 2012, which include the concept of "safety by design" and highlighted the latest developments with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

On January 23, 2012, the President nominated Marietta S. Robinson to be a Commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to the White House, Robinson has practiced as a trial attorney for 33 years, handing a wide variety of litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants.

On January 19, 2012, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-1 to provisionally accept an agreement with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) that would settle CPSC staff allegations that HP failed to immediately inform the Commission of a defect on its lithium-ion battery packs for its notebook computers. HP agreed to settle the allegations by paying a $425,000 civil penalty. While Commissioner Adler voted against the agreement, stating that the penalty amount was too small to deter violations, Commissioner Tenenbaum voted for the agreement, but with significant reservation.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced its weekly meeting on January 25, 2012 in which the staff briefs the Commission on the status of various compliance matters. The meeting is closed to the public, and the agenda is confidential.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following additional voluntary recalls for January 18, 2012: