The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has agreed to finalise a rule by 18 October that could ban the use of five phthalates in children’s products base on the decision of the Southern District Court of New York.

On 30 December 2014, the CPSC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) for the rule ‘Prohibition of Children’s Toys and Child Care Articles Containing Specified Phthalates’ based on the CHAP report and CPSC staff comments. The CPSC was required by law to issue a final rule no later than January 14, 2015, but has failed to do so. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) filed a lawsuit at the beginning of this year to compel action on the rule, alleging that the agency's failure to comply with statutory deadlines. CPSC has agreed to issue a final rule by 18 October base on the decision of court.

If the final version of the rule is unchanged, eight phthalates will be permanently banned in toys and childcare articles. The highlights of the NPR and a comparison with the existing requirements under CPSIA are summarised in the follow table.

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