CPSIA victory! sort of...

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This press release from the CPSC says it pretty clearly, I think.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

From the read of it, most of the businesses I was concerned about will be granted a stay of execution, er, that is, a stay of testing and certification. This doesn't mean that they don't have to fulfill the requirements, just that they don't have to prove that they fulfill the requirements. This is not unlike previous laws that just say that products need to meet minimum requirements. This is do-able.


This is good news on many fronts-

- The CPSC can now have just a little bit of time (one year) to get their act together to create clear(er) and more small-business-friendly regulations and rules.

- The one year stay give congress a chance to amend the law.

- Most importantly, the one year stay gives the rest of us a chance to make sure our concerns are heard frequently, loudly and clearly. That's where the "sort of" part of the victory comes in. They've given a stay, but it is clear that those of us who are concerned about the CPSIA need to make our voices heard about our on-going concerns, and make suggestion on how to mitigate the economic impact on tens of thousands of small businesses.

I do hope that it's not too late for some businesses. I've still been reading news stories about businesses planning to close. Hopefully, they'll hear the news, and be able to restore their business to full running, banking on the idea that the CPSC will make some reasonable interpretations of the law, or that Congress will amend the law.

Now is the time to write thank-you notes, and to repeat the concern we have already expressed!