The Consumer Product Safety Commission is hosting a teleconference April 10 to discuss the progress made by the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) on phthalates and phthalate substitutes, said a Commission notice in the Federal Register. CPSC appointed the panel in April last year to study the effects of children's health of all phthalates and phthalate alternatives used in children's toys and child care articles. The teleconference will take place between 11 a.m and 1 p.m EST. Contact Michael Babich, CPSC project manager, at mbabich@cpsc.gov for call-in instruction by April 6.

Toy industry trade groups sought a strong federal standard that preempts state safety standards, in comments on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s notice seeking input on ways to reduce the cost of Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) third-party testing requirements for children’s products that are consistent with assuring compliance with applicable consumer product safety rules, bans, standards or regulations. A patchwork of state standards will make compliance impractical and extremely burdensome, the groups said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recall for March 27, 2012:

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez said that, as a result of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KFTA), 98% of Korea’s tariff lines, accounting for about 73% of U.S. textile and apparel exports to Korea by value, receive duty-free treatment immediately, and virtually all footwear exports to Korea are duty-free immediately as well. In his March 22 remarks to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, Sanchez also said the International Trade Administration is working with the U.S. Trade Representative to deal with issues such as India’s recent export ban on cotton and the tariff and non-tariff barriers in Brazil, Argentina, and Turkey.

The International Trade Commission is seeking public comment for a newly initiated investigation on the effect of correcting the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement product-specific rules of origin. The investigation, Effect of Adding References to HS 6104.32 to Correct the U.S.-Korea Product-Specific Rules of Origin, was requested by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a March 22 letter.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said that since its public database on safety incidents (SaferProducts.gov) was created one year ago, more than 6,600 people have reported products that caused harm or the potential to harm individuals in or around the home. CPSC issued a list of the top ten products reported to CBP via its public database. About 36% of the reports involved kitchen products, mostly involving electric ranges or ovens, dishwashers, refrigerators, microwaves, and coffee and tea pots.

The Consumer Product Safety Commissioners are to vote by March 27, 2012 on whether to publish for comment in the Federal Register a Petition asking the agency to initiate a rulemaking for the classification of the “BeeSafe System” as an Anti-Entrapment System under the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety (VGB) Act.

The Consumer Product Safety Commissioners are to vote by March 27, 2012 on whether to initiate a rulemaking that would impose regulatory safeguards for the glass fronts of gas vented fireplaces. The rulemaking would require a warning system to alert consumers when the glass front exceeds a certain temperature.

The Consumer Product Safety Commissioners are to vote by March 27, 2012 on whether to approve a Federal Register notice to grant an exception from the 100 ppm lead content limit to certain aluminum alloy components of children’s die-cast, ride-on pedal tractors, and similar component parts made of aluminum alloy on similar ride-on children’s products for children ages 3 years and older. The petition for these exceptions was submitted by Joseph L. Ertl, Inc., Scale Models and Dyersville Die Cast for its die-cast, ride-on pedal tractors.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission published notice of the following voluntary recalls for March 21-22, 2012: